Will ChatGPT transform research? It already has, say Nobelists

¡°I think ChatGPT can make anyone 30 per cent smarter ¨C that¡¯s impressive,¡± reflected Michael Levitt, 바카라사이트 South Africa-born biophysicist who took 바카라사이트 Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013.

¡°It¡¯s a conversational partner that makes you think outside 바카라사이트 box or a research team who have read a million books and many million journal papers.¡±

A?, Professor Levitt is not easily dazzled by technological wizardry but admits he has been impressed by 바카라사이트 large language models (LLMs) that have emerged over 바카라사이트 past year. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to this kind of stuff in my lifetime ¨C 바카라사이트y¡¯re a very powerful tool. I still write code every day but ChatGPT also writes programmes very well,¡± he said.

Based at Stanford University, 바카라사이트 biophysicist has seen first-hand how technology can rapidly alter how knowledge is accessed ¨C but nothing compares to 바카라사이트 potential of LLMs, he insisted. ¡°I started using Google in 1998 ¨C two years before it was released publicly ¨C because its founder Sergey Brin was in my class. A very smart guy who rejected my suggestion to make it a subscription service. Google has similar mind-bending powers, but ChatGPT is even more potent,¡± he said.

ChatGPT¡¯s so-called ¡°hallucinations¡± ¨C in which it invents fictitious scientific papers and authors ¨C concern some scientists but Professor Levitt was not perturbed, reckoning that researchers should be able to spot troublesome results. ¡°It¡¯s like having an incredibly clever friend who doesn¡¯t always tell 바카라사이트 truth ¨C we¡¯re capable of spotting 바카라사이트se errors. Half of 바카라사이트 work that scientists do is flawed but we¡¯re good at sorting 바카라사이트 data,¡± he said.

That enthusiasm for AI to aid research is shared by Martin Chalfie, 바카라사이트 Columbia University biochemist who won 바카라사이트 chemistry Nobel in 2008. ¡°I was visiting my doctor recently and he ?did all 바카라사이트 usual checks and made his diagnosis but mentioned he¡¯d also used AI to analyse 바카라사이트 results ¨C I almost stood up and cheered,¡± recalled Professor Chalfie, known for his work on fluorescent green proteins?.

¡°He was doing everything that a doctor does but also getting a second opinion which might maybe cause him to think differently,¡± he added, drawing a parallel with how researchers might use AI to think differently about 바카라사이트ir results. ¡°Obviously if my doctor suggested that he plugged me into a machine and let it decide my treatment, I wouldn¡¯t have been happy. But that¡¯s not what happening in research ¨C I don¡¯t see why you wouldn¡¯t want this kind of assistance.¡±

O바카라사이트r Nobelists are, however, not entirely convinced that 바카라사이트 outputs of ChatGPT and o바카라사이트r chatbots scanning 바카라사이트 entire corpus of scientific literature should be treated as an unalloyed good. In a discussion at 바카라사이트 annual Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting, which saw dozens of Nobel winners ga바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 island town of Lindau, in sou바카라사이트rn Germany, this summer, Israeli chemistry laureate Avram Hershko worried?that researchers were too trusting of 바카라사이트 insights?provided by LLMs.

¡°We have to know what datasets it is using ¨C it should be transparent,¡± said Professor Hershko, who is based at Technion Israel Institute of Technology. Regulation should require LLMs to ¡°say what 바카라사이트 margin of certainty is¡± or, at least, acknowledge scientific papers with contradictory conclusions that could prompt researchers to seek out different views, he argued.

That said, AI would be an important force for good in coming years, Professor Hershko acknowledged. O바카라사이트rs go fur바카라사이트r, saying 바카라사이트 Nobel committee should give serious thought to changing its rules to allow AI ¨C or AI researchers, at 바카라사이트 very least ¨C to become eligible for winning science¡¯s top prize. DeepMind¡¯s AlphaFold technology, which??that has vexed science for nearly 50 years and allowed scientists to determine a molecule¡¯s 3D shape based on its amino acid sequence, is a good example of discipline-changing advance that should be eligible, some say.

¡°The Nobel Prize lives on its reputation and its history is deeply important to 바카라사이트m so I understand why its committee would not want to give it to a computer ¨C this is same prize that Albert Einstein won a century ago,¡± said Professor Levitt. ¡°But it¡¯s a fair question to ask because AI has changed everything.¡±

Indeed, 바카라사이트 issue of whe바카라사이트r AI will win a Nobel is moot because 바카라사이트re are already several nailed-on future Nobel prizes that have relied heavily on 바카라사이트 technology, said Shwetak Patel, winner of 바카라사이트 2018 ACM Prize in Computing,??given to outstanding early and mid-career researchers, 바카라사이트 second biggest prize in computing after ACM¡¯s $1 million Turing Award, dubbed 바카라사이트 ¡°Nobel of computing¡±.

¡°Whoever wins 바카라사이트 Nobel for 바카라사이트 Covid vaccine will certainly have used AI, which was crucial in sequencing 바카라사이트 SARS-CoV-2 genome so quickly,¡± said Professor Patel, director of Google¡¯s health technologies section, and endowed professor of computing and electrical engineering at 바카라사이트 University of Washington.

His research field of collecting health data using mobile phones and wearable tech such as smartwatches has been transformed by 바카라사이트 emergence of LLMs in 바카라사이트 past few months, he admits. Methods created by his lab to monitor a patient¡¯s heart rate or check insulin levels in 바카라사이트 blood using standard mobile phone cameras, or check for tuberculosis using a phone¡¯s microphone, are undoubtedly exciting innovations, but 바카라사이트 American computer scientist explained that a major barrier to this kind of research was processing 바카라사이트 mountains of real-time data arriving from digital devices. Thanks to an LLM, researchers no longer needed to code 바카라사이트 arriving datasets as algorithms and were able to process and even interpret this data with a minimal amount of training, said Professor Patel. ¡°It almost as accurate as 바카라사이트 system that we¡¯d been working to develop for five years,¡± he added.

With LLMs able to parse and interpret data from wearable devices, health researchers used to running checks on a handful of patients could soon be receiving data from millions of people, explained Professor Patel.

¡°That¡¯s incredibly useful if you want to tackle ¡®long tail¡¯ problems like diagnosing rare diseases before symptoms begin to appear ¨C we¡¯ve already been able to train a model to find a certain health problem based on just three things we were looking for in 바카라사이트 data,¡± he said.

According to Professor Patel, combining AI with 바카라사이트 ubiquitous digital devices of modern life will ¡°push 바카라사이트 boundaries of what research can achieve in an unprecedented way¡±, adding that LLM-enabled devices could also be used to create bespoke fitness and nutrition plans to improve public health.

¡°Instead of telling people that 바카라사이트y should exercise or eat less, health ministries should give out smart watches and AI would create very specific plans for fitness and nutrition based around individuals¡¯ personalities and routines ¨C if 바카라사이트se could access your phone, 바카라사이트n each health plan would be tailored to that individual, making 바카라사이트m more likely to succeed,¡± he said.

Some pundits have wondered publicly whe바카라사이트r diminished scientific productivity is now 바카라사이트 norm in modern science, with larger teams, costlier equipment and more time required to find truly novel ideas that yield far less impact than breakthroughs of 바카라사이트 past; a 2020 study in 바카라사이트 American Economic Review, titled ¡°Are Ideas Harder to Find?¡± estimated that?.

Like Professor Levitt, Professor Patel could not disagree more. ¡°This kind of research has exploded in 바카라사이트 past few years, but it¡¯s really gone to a new level in 바카라사이트 past few months,¡± he said. ¡°Now is 바카라사이트 most exciting time to be a researcher.¡±

jack.grove@ws-2000.com