3 ms·

I agree that this line is BS. I disagree that it discredits the whole article. In particular, the protein folding example is extremely important and validates

I agree that this line is BS. I disagree that it discredits the whole article. In particular, the protein folding example is extremely important and validates that AI is indeed having a big and real impact on science.

visarga 4y ago
Why is it BS. AI allows scientists to zoom into information they seek. For example by training a language model on the latest papers, a scientist could use question & answering to find answers to specific questions. It's similar to using a search engine.
- Swizec 4y ago
  Sounds to me like what we call "A Search Engine" in software engineering. I sure as heck can't keep track of all the blogposts and articles that come out every day about software development. But I can expertly wield "an AI" to answer my questions and do just-in-time research when it's needed to solve problems.
- andrewmutz 4y ago
  I've never seen anything in the AI space that can "quickly read through the scientific literature, allowing it to learn the fundamental rules, facts, and equations of science".
  - randcraw 4y ago
    Yeah, that's exactly what IBM claimed Watson would do -- learn biology, chemistry, and medicine on its own and then outperform human physicians. Instead, Watson Medicine was a catastrophe and revealed their AI marketeers to be hopelessly clueless. That's a mistake all AI boosters should take to heart. Don't overstate your accomplishment. To wit, claims that the protein folding problem has been entirely solved by AlphaFold is such an overstatement. For a more measured view on the use of AF in drug development (especially), check out med chemist Derek Lowe's blog, especially his articles: "Fooling the Protein Folding Software" https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/fooling-protein-folding-software https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/fooling-protein-fo... , and "AlphaFold Excitement" https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/alphafold-excitement https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/alphafold-exciteme...

visarga 4y ago

Why is it BS. AI allows scientists to zoom into information they seek. For example by training a language model on the latest papers, a scientist could use question & answering to find answers to specific questions. It's similar to using a search engine.

Swizec 4y ago
Sounds to me like what we call "A Search Engine" in software engineering. I sure as heck can't keep track of all the blogposts and articles that come out every day about software development. But I can expertly wield "an AI" to answer my questions and do just-in-time research when it's needed to solve problems.
andrewmutz 4y ago
I've never seen anything in the AI space that can "quickly read through the scientific literature, allowing it to learn the fundamental rules, facts, and equations of science".
- randcraw 4y ago
  Yeah, that's exactly what IBM claimed Watson would do -- learn biology, chemistry, and medicine on its own and then outperform human physicians. Instead, Watson Medicine was a catastrophe and revealed their AI marketeers to be hopelessly clueless. That's a mistake all AI boosters should take to heart. Don't overstate your accomplishment. To wit, claims that the protein folding problem has been entirely solved by AlphaFold is such an overstatement. For a more measured view on the use of AF in drug development (especially), check out med chemist Derek Lowe's blog, especially his articles: "Fooling the Protein Folding Software" https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/fooling-protein-folding-software https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/fooling-protein-fo... , and "AlphaFold Excitement" https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/alphafold-excitement https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/alphafold-exciteme...