EDMONTON — Several decades after literally writing the book on modern reinforcement learning, Alberta’s own Richard Sutton has received a prestigious award often referred to as the “Nobel Prize in Computing.”
Sutton, a University of Alberta computing science professor and chief scientific advisor and fellow with Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute), was named co-recipient of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A.M. Turing Award. The award, named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, recognizes those who have made a profound and everlasting impact on computer science. It carries a US$1-million prize with financial support provided by Google, Inc.
Sutton has been instrumental in transforming Alberta into a world-renowned AI hub since arriving at the University of Alberta nearly 25 years ago. He was honoured alongside longtime collaborator Andrew Barto, whom he met during his time at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In receiving the award, Sutton joins fellow Canadian AI luminaries Yoshua Bengio and Gregory Hinton as Turing laureates.
In 1998, Sutton and Barto co-authored Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction, which continues to be one of the landmark texts and has fundamentally and enduringly redefined the science of artificial intelligence. Reinforcement learning has countless applications including global supply chain optimization and improving the reasoning capabilities of ever-popular chatbots.
Media availability: Media are invited to speak with Richard Sutton about the award.
When:
Thursday, March 6, 10 a.m.
Availability with Richard Sutton to follow short program
Location:
Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute
Amii Event Space, 2nd Floor, 10065 Jasper Ave NW, Edmonton
Parking available in lot behind Amii or on-street along Jasper Ave
Livestream is available for anyone unable to attend in person. Please note: Richard Sutton is unavailable for interviews outside of this media event due to his schedule.
Who:
Richard Sutton, A.M. Turing Award recipient
Bill Flanagan, President & vice-chancellor, U of A
Cam Linke, CEO, Amii
More information can be found here. Media Contacts:
Lynda Vang | Amii, Communications Specialist | lynda.vang@amii.ca | 587-415-6100 ext. 109
Sarah Vernon | U of A, Communications Associate | svernon@ualberta.ca | 780-818-0901
Quotes:
“Machines that learn from experience were explored by Alan Turing almost eighty years ago, so it is particularly gratifying and humbling to receive an award in his name for reviving this essential and still nascent idea.”
- Richard Sutton, ACM A.M. Turing Award recipient, U of A computing science professor and chief scientific advisor and fellow with Amii
“We are so proud of Rich for this incredible achievement. In his lifelong pursuit to understand intelligence, Rich continues to bring the field of reinforcement learning further than we could have imagined —inspiring two “Sputnik” moments from DeepSeek to AlphaGo and we know he’ll just keep moving forward. Congratulations to our distinguished fellow, Chief Scientific Advisor and dear friend, Richard Sutton, alongside Andrew Barto, for this well-deserved recognition.”
- Cam Linke, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute CEO
“The University of Alberta is a global leader in AI research, thanks to accomplished researchers such as Richard Sutton. As AI rapidly changes the way we live, work and do business, Dr. Sutton’s pivotal research has been instrumental in turning Alberta into a world-renowned hub for artificial intelligence. We congratulate him on this well-earned honour.”
- Bill Flanagan, University of Alberta president and vice-chancellor
“Barto and Sutton’s work is not a stepping stone that we have now moved on from. Reinforcement learning continues to grow and offers great potential for further advances in computing and many other disciplines. It is fitting that we are honouring them with the most prestigious award in our field.”
- Yannis Ioannidis, Association for Computing Machinery president
Additional background:
Richard Sutton’s impact on Alberta’s AI legacy began in 2003 when he moved to Edmonton to teach at the University of Alberta’s Department of Computing Science. From there he went on to serve as Chair of Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence at iCORE/AITF (until 2018) and founded the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence Lab where he now serves as one of the principal investigators. Alongside his current fellowship, Sutton is the Chief Scientific Advisor at Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair.
In 2017, he co-founded Google DeepMind Alberta, the company’s first international research lab. When the company closed its Edmonton office in 2023, Sutton chose to continue his research in Alberta. That same year, he announced a partnership with celebrated video game engineer John Carmack and took on the role of research scientist at Carmack’s Keen Technologies.
Adding to his impact on reinforcement learning, Sutton’s mentorship of emerging researchers continues to leave an indelible mark on the field of AI at large. It was his former doctoral student David Silver who, alongside Sutton and Martin Müeller, developed AlphaGo, a computer program that defeated the best human Go players in 2016 and 2017.
In 2018, the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association recognized Sutton with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and he has also received an Outstanding Achievement in Research Award from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada,
the Royal Society of London and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. Sutton’s scientific publications have been cited approximately 150,000 times.
Alongside two collaborators, Sutton penned The Alberta Plan for AI Research, which details a roadmap towards the next ‘grand scientific prize’ of understanding intelligence, including some of the research questions and projects that will be pursued in the decade to come.
What is Reinforcement Learning?
Reinforcement learning is a subfield of artificial intelligence where agents learn by exploring, receiving rewards and penalties, and optimizing their actions. Reinforcement learning continues to have a profound impact on artificial intelligence – driving AI advancements like ChatGPT.