#12: Director of Microsoft Research talks AI for Science - Chris Bishop

I sat down with Dr. Chris Bishop, a Microsoft technical fellow and the director of Microsoft Research AI for Science, to sink into the details of what AI is actually unlocking for science, and what kind of AI is doing it. 

Episode Links: 

• 5th paradigm of scientific discovery: https://cacm.acm.org/opinion/the-5th-paradigm-ai-driven-scientific-discovery/
• Microsoft Aurora: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/introducing-aurora-the-first-large-scale-foundation-model-of-the-atmosphere/
• The environmental cost of AI: https://www.thedeepview.co/p/the-public-health-crisis-of-artificial-intelligence
• MatterGen: https://www.thedeepview.co/p/report-ai-is-everywhere-already-even-if-we-don-t-know-it
• The dubious nature of AGI: https://www.thedeepview.co/p/the-nobel-prize-and-the-mainstreaming-of-ai-s-x-risk
  
  

Outline:

0:00 – Intro
2:13 – The importance of domain expertise in AI 
5:17 – The promise of AI for science
12:47 – Project Aurora and climate modeling 
15:27 – The cost-benefit analysis of AI 
18:43 – Weather prediction models VS ChatGPT
21:36 – AI to shield against engineering disasters
24:36 – How does Microsoft decide which applications to pursue
27:32 – Microsoft Research’s main areas of focus
33:24 – MatterGen and material generation
39:24 – How the wet lab is changing
42:19 – Is AGI a worthwhile pursuit for scientific advancement? 
 47:43 – Technological optimism and the way forward

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Artificial intelligence is a complicated topic, bound by a number of complex threads — technical science, ethics, safety, regulation, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, investment and — above all — humanity. On The Deep View: Conversations, Ian Krietzberg, host and Editor-in-Chief at The Deep View, breaks it all down, cutting through the hype to make clear what's important and why you should care.