{"id":56571,"date":"2026-04-21T09:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/?post_type=disclosure&#038;p=56571"},"modified":"2026-04-21T09:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:57:09","slug":"terrence-sejnowski-wins-inaugural-world-digital-technology-academy-award","status":"publish","type":"disclosure","link":"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/terrence-sejnowski-wins-inaugural-world-digital-technology-academy-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Terrence Sejnowski wins inaugural World Digital Technology Academy Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul style=\"margin-bottom: 30px;\">\n<li style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: -20px !important; margin-left: -20px !important;\"><strong>Lo m\u00e1s destacado<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The World Digital Technology Academy\u2019s World Digital and Frontier Technologies Awards were launched in 2025 at the United Nations World Summit for Social Development in Doha<\/li>\n<li>Sejnowski will share the inaugural Scientific Breakthrough Award with Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton for their foundational development of the Boltzmann Machine\u2014a precursor to modern AI tools<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>LA JOLLA\u2014Salk Institute scientist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/scientist\/terrence-sejnowski\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Terrence Sejnowski, PhD,<\/a> and Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton, PhD, have received the Scientific Breakthrough Award from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wdtacademy.org\/WDFTAwards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World Digital Technology Academy (WDTA)\u2019s inaugural World Digital and Frontier Technologies (WDFT) Awards<\/a>. Sejnowski and Hinton are recognized for their pioneering research bridging biological intelligence and computational models, punctuated by their foundational development of Boltzmann machines. Their work provided \u201cthe architectural bedrock for deep learning, generative AI, and the large-scale systems now driving digital civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_56573\"  class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"458\" height=\"300\" class=\"img-responsive wp-image-56573 size-col-md-5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-458x300.jpg\" alt=\"Terrence Sejnowski (shown here in 2003) is being recognized for his pioneering work in computer science and artificial intelligence with an inaugural World Digital Technology Academy Scientific Breakthrough Award.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-458x300.jpg 458w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-1024x671.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-768x503.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-1536x1007.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-18x12.jpg 18w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-147x96.jpg 147w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-585x383.jpg 585w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-553x362.jpg 553w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-750x492.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-767x503.jpg 767w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-945x619.jpg 945w, https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 458px) 100vw, 458px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Terrence Sejnowski (shown here in 2003) is being recognized for his pioneering work in computer science and artificial intelligence with an inaugural World Digital Technology Academy Scientific Breakthrough Award.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Haga clic aqu\u00ed<\/a> para obtener una imagen en alta resoluci\u00f3n.<br \/>Cr\u00e9dito: Instituto Salk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The WDFT Awards were launched in 2025 at the United Nations World Summit for Social Development in Doha to celebrate \u201cgroundbreaking contributions across science, engineering, societal impact, and global collaboration in the era of digital technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe increasing complexity of technology and our world means that scientists must be thoughtful not just about making breakthrough discoveries but also about their implications for society,\u201d says Salk President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/scientist\/gerald-joyce\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Gerald Joyce, m\u00e9dico y doctor en Medicina<\/a>. \u201cTerry is a great example of the innovation and collaboration it takes to be an impactful scientist in today\u2019s world, and this award truly honors that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sejnowski is a professor, head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, and holder of the Francis Crick Chair at Salk. He is inextricably linked to the history of neuroeconomics, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, psychology, computational neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. The present-day questions and progress in each of these fields have been shaped by Sejnowski\u2019s work, including his 1985 invention of the Boltzmann machine with Hinton.<\/p>\n<p>The Boltzmann machine is the first algorithm to solve the problem of learning in multilayered neural networks. Today, 40 years later, it remains the most biologically plausible algorithm for artificial neural networks. Sejnowski also pioneered a computer program called NETtalk, which could learn to convert written text into speech, as the human brain does. These accomplishments laid the groundwork for modern artificial intelligence and tools like ChatGPT.<\/p>\n<p>The Scientific Breakthrough Award is one of many prestigious recognitions Sejnowski has received over the years, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/salk-scientist-terrence-sejnowski-receives-2025-nih-directors-pioneer-award\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2025 NIH Director\u2019s Pioneer Award<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/salk-professor-terrence-sejnowski-wins-brain-prize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2024 Brain Prize<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/salk-institutes-terrence-sejnowski-awarded-gruber-prize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022 Gruber Prize in Neuroscience<\/a>. He is also a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/terrence-sejnowski-elected-to-the-royal-society-and-the-american-philosophical-society\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Philosophical Society<\/a>, as well as a Fellow of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/terrence-sejnowski-elected-to-the-royal-society-and-the-american-philosophical-society\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Royal Society<\/a> in the United Kingdom.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":56574,"template":"","faculty":[114],"disease-research":[448,279,332,124],"class_list":["post-56571","disclosure","type-disclosure","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","faculty-terrence-sejnowski","disease-research-artificial-intelligence","disease-research-awards","disease-research-computational-biology","disease-research-neuroscience-and-neurological-disorders"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Terrence Sejnowski wins inaugural World Digital Technology Academy Award - Salk Institute for Biological Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/terrence-sejnowski-wins-inaugural-world-digital-technology-academy-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Terrence Sejnowski wins inaugural World Digital Technology Academy Award - Salk Institute for Biological Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Highlights The World Digital Technology Academy\u2019s World Digital and Frontier Technologies Awards were launched in 2025 at the United Nations World Summit for Social Development in Doha Sejnowski will share the inaugural Scientific Breakthrough Award with Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton for their foundational development of the Boltzmann Machine\u2014a precursor to modern AI tools LA JOLLA\u2014Salk Institute scientist Terrence Sejnowski, PhD, and Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton, PhD, have received the Scientific Breakthrough Award from the World Digital Technology Academy (WDTA)\u2019s inaugural World Digital and Frontier Technologies (WDFT) Awards. Sejnowski and Hinton are recognized for their pioneering research bridging biological intelligence and computational models, punctuated by their foundational development of Boltzmann machines. Their work provided \u201cthe architectural bedrock for deep learning, generative AI, and the large-scale systems now driving digital civilization.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/terrence-sejnowski-wins-inaugural-world-digital-technology-academy-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Salk Institute for Biological Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-21T16:57:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260421-pr-sejnowski-homepage.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"767\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"767\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.salk.edu\\\/news-release\\\/terrence-sejnowski-wins-inaugural-world-digital-technology-academy-award\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.salk.edu\\\/news-release\\\/terrence-sejnowski-wins-inaugural-world-digital-technology-academy-award\\\/\",\"name\":\"Terrence Sejnowski wins inaugural World Digital Technology Academy Award - 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