AI Research: Nobel Prizes Have Entered A New Era

Editorial

15:56 JST, October 17, 2024

Artificial intelligence research dominated the science sector of this year’s Nobel prizes. The decisions regarding the prizes give the impression that AI research has profoundly changed the nature of society and science.

It was decided that the Nobel Prize in Physics will go to scientists, including Geoffrey Hinton, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto in Canada. He invented a method of deep learning in which a computer that mimics the circuitry of the brain learns by itself. He is called the “Godfather of AI.”

Based on this research, the use of generative AI to process language and images has expanded. When considering the magnitude of its impact, it is even surprising that he has not been awarded the prize until now.

The natural science sector of the Nobel prizes is limited to the three fields of “physiology or medicine,” “physics” and “chemistry,” and researchers in AI and information science were virtually excluded from the prizes. The selection committee’s decisions this time can be said to be a landmark shift.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to a group of scientists, including Demis Hassabis, who is the chief executive officer of the Britain-based firm Google DeepMind. They developed technology to predict the structure of proteins using deep learning developed by Hinton and others.

Proteins are important substances that shape the bodies of living organisms, but their structures are complex and have taken years to study until now. With the use of AI technology by Hassabis and others, the structures can be determined in a matter of minutes, and it is expected to greatly advance the discovery of new drugs and research on diseases.

On the other hand, AI can also be a threat, depending on how it is used. Hinton has warned that systems more intelligent than humans could eventually take control of them. The decisions regarding the awards should also be taken as a reflection of the selection committee’s concerns over AI.

There have been signs of a move since a few years ago to try to shed light on new fields. Syukuro Manabe received the 2021 physics prize for his work on climate change, and Svante Paabo was awarded the 2022 physiology or medicine prize for his work on paleoanthropology.

Climate change and anthropology are not covered within the conventional framework of the three science prizes. In recent years, science has become more complex and cross-disciplinary research has increased. A selection method that fits into the traditional three-prize framework may no longer be appropriate for the times.

In the scientific fields, there has been no Japanese laureate for three consecutive years. This is probably not unrelated to the fact that Japan is lagging behind in addressing new interdisciplinary fields.

This month, the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University merged to form the Institute of Science Tokyo. Such bold organizational reforms and the strengthening of interdisciplinary research should be hastened. Otherwise, it is inevitable that the number of Japanese Nobel laureates will decrease significantly in the near future.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 17, 2024)