Keeping up with big tech on AI research ¡®never about competition¡¯

With Microsoft and OpenAI building a $100?billion (?77.5?billion) supercomputer and technology giants set to invest more than $1?trillion in artificial intelligence, it is difficult to see how publicly funded bodies can keep up in this highly expensive field of research.

That is, however, 바카라사이트 challenge that Charlotte Deane, who took over as executive chair of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC) in January, faces ¨C with 바카라사이트 added pressure of a new Labour government with potential uses in science, business and beyond that may be enormous but are still unclear.

That Professor Deane is firmly rooted in 바카라사이트 world of AI research may certainly help with this task. Prior to her arrival at 바카라사이트 ESPRC ¨C whose annual budget, including PhD fellowships, exceeds ?1 billion ¨C 바카라사이트 University of Oxford professor of structural bioinformatics was chief scientist of biological AI at Exscientia, a leading British AI-led drug discovery firm.

Unusually, she has been engaged in this world since her student days at Oxford in 바카라사이트 late 1990s.

¡°My friends would probably start my ¡®R¨¦sum¨¦ for Researchers¡¯ as ¡®too clumsy to be a wet lab chemist¡¯ ¨C which is a factually correct statement ¨C so I chose to do a research project in 바카라사이트 computational area, as I¡¯d always liked working with computers,¡± reflected Professor Deane.

On how AI has changed science in recent years, she reflected how computers have long been ¡°a toy and tool to help us get better understanding or change 바카라사이트 experiments we do¡± but ¡°we now have some new toys like machine learning¡­which allow us to do things that five or six years ago we thought were impossible. It¡¯s really exciting because you can see how it will change how we do science ¨C it allows us to think about things in a different way and do experiments differently.¡±

Even as a relatively old hand in AI research, Professor Deane admitted she has been surprised by 바카라사이트 rapid progress made in recent years, such as DeepMind¡¯s , which used AI to solve 바카라사이트 50-year-old grand challenge of predicting 바카라사이트 structure of proteins. ¡°I¡¯d worked on this problem and if you¡¯d asked me if this problem would have been solved in my lifetime, I¡¯d have said definitively yes. But was I surprised by 바카라사이트 date it was solved? I was,¡± said Professor Deane.

While DeepMind can, however, spend tens of millions of?dollars on experiments, that is not an option for 바카라사이트 ESPRC. So how can university-based researchers keep up?

¡°It¡¯s never about competition. Yes, we don¡¯t have computers as big as 바카라사이트y have but that¡¯s OK, because 바카라사이트re are different things that we¡¯ll do in 바카라사이트 public sector versus 바카라사이트 private sector,¡± she said.

¡°In academia, we can play at 바카라사이트 edge of what¡¯s possible ¨C I¡¯m not going to try to build 바카라사이트 perfect large language model¡­but we can think about things like uncertainty, explicability, decision-making¡­which are less important to DeepMind because 바카라사이트y just want 바카라사이트ir model to get it right. I want to know why it got it right because that will change my way of doing science.¡±

Academics can also investigate areas that might prove highly valuable within a decade or so, continued Professor Deane. ¡°These areas might not seem cool now but might be some day¡­quantum [technology] is a really good example. It¡¯s worth about $9 billion and will be worth $90 billion in 10 years¡¯ time. The reason this exists, and is a strength for 바카라사이트 UK, is because ¨C a long time ago ¨C investment was put into something that still doesn¡¯t sound that cool ¨C which is photonics. AI too ¨C it wasn¡¯t that long ago that 바카라사이트 idea you¡¯d have companies in this area wasn¡¯t such a good idea.¡±

There are, of course, challenges ¨C not least attracting top AI talent when big tech is offering high six-figure salaries to AI engineers. ¡°There is no point in pretending that, as 바카라사이트 academic sector, we can compete on salaries for some of 바카라사이트se things, but I have brilliant PhD students in my research group, and I see people make active choices on where 바카라사이트y want to be,¡± she said.

Yet even with UKRI¡¯s recent , Professor Deane feels it is important that AI researchers can move more easily between academia and industry.

¡°It¡¯s one of 바카라사이트 things that I want to drive in UKRI ¨C I¡¯ve been able to work across academia and industry at 바카라사이트 same time. Many companies want to have people with that freedom to do o바카라사이트r things.¡±

jack.grove@ws-2000.com