The Rise of the AI Scientists
AI systems are increasingly used as powerful tools in many fields of science, and soon these systems may be able to design and perform their own experiments
From tool to designer
Machine learning and artificial intelligence-based systems are quickly developing as powerful research tools. Their capacity to handle ungodly amounts of data and scan for patterns help scientists better understand many research topics, from genomic regulation, over mass extinctions, to multi-factorial mental health conditions.
However, the AI systems remain fairly ‘dumb’ tools in these contexts. Sure, they can help scientists detect new patterns and generate novel hypotheses, but the machine learning/AI is not exactly asking its own questions or designing its own experiments.
Can it though? Can AI make the leap from ‘here are the patterns’ to ‘hey, this is weird’? Even more importantly, can it go from ‘hey, this is weird’ to ‘why is this weird?’. The question mark within the single quotes in the last sentence is important here.
Simulation time
When scientists are faced with a study object that is hard to actually study in person (say the Milky Way), they often…
