Editorial: Latest Nobel Prizes denote new form of science amid AI’s advance

The Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry have been awarded to professors engaging in research related to artificial intelligence (AI), giving the impression that a new form of science is emerging.

The physics prize went to two scientists from the United States and Canada who used computers to replicate the mechanism by which the brain learns, leading to the development of AI. They implemented deep learning, which involves analysis of large amounts of data to produce answers. This has been used in familiar fields such as autonomous driving.

The chemistry prize, meanwhile, shed light on AI technology which has made it possible to structurally analyze and design proteins that support life. The award went to three scientists from the U.K. and U.S. including two from an IT company that developed the technology. They made it possible to complete tasks that had previously taken years to finish in just minutes.

AI has also revolutionized research methods. Its ability to process a huge amount of data in an instant has paved the path to solving long-standing mysteries. The chemistry prize selection committee noted that two of the prizewinners “developed an AI model to solve a 50-year-old problem” about proteins.

AI has also been utilized in the development of new materials and in research on black holes. Its use as a convenient tool is likely to grow in value in the future.

In the meantime, AI is also putting pressure on research systems to transform. Success in global competition requires collaboration not only between specialists in specific fields, but with outstanding workers in the IT field.

Japan faces a chronic shortage of human resources in such fields, and training them is a pressing issue.

Yet we must also turn our eyes toward AI’s negative impacts.

The ability to design proteins at will could make it possible to artificially create harmful materials not found in nature. Meanwhile, AI-generated disinformation has spread via social media, causing confusion in society.

Geoffrey E. Hinton, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto in Canada, who was selected for the physics prize, formerly belonged to Google but changed jobs to sound the alarm. He was quoted as saying that AI was “going to exceed people in intellectual ability,” but that “we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences, particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.”

Just as nuclear energy was used to create nuclear weapons, there are always two sides to scientific technology.

Humanity needs the wisdom to ensure that the technology is not allowed to get out of control. Scientists have a responsibility to uphold high ethical standards and mitigate the risks.