AI Becomes the Brain Behind Nobel-Winning Science

In October 2024, artificial intelligence (AI) technology received Nobel Prizes. The Swedish Nobel Committee officially recognized AI's standing in the scientific community by awarding the Physics Prize to scholars who established the theory of 'artificial neural networks'—which learn and judge like the human brain—and the Chemistry Prize to the development team behind the AI system 'AlphaFold', which predicts protein structures. These Nobel laureates underscore AI's significant contributions to fundamental scientific fields such as chemistry, biology, and physics, moving beyond its role as a mere technological tool.

The AI system 'AlphaFold' has been instrumental in solving the protein folding problem, a challenge that had stumped scientists for 50 years. AlphaFold successfully predicted protein folding structures in 2020.

As AI evolves into a 'collaborative scientist' capable of autonomously reading papers, formulating hypotheses, and designing experiments, the role of human scientists is shifting towards posing the 'right questions'.