A partnership between Cambridge and Aberystwyth University scientist have created a “robot scientist” named Adam believed to be the first machine to have discovered scientific knowledge on its own, according to news from Cambridge university.
Initially funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the group published its findings in the European publication, Science journal.
Designed to carry out scientific research and processes automatically without the need for human intervention; the robot has discovered simple but new scientific knowledge about the genomics of the baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an organism that scientists use to model more complex life systems.
According to Stephen Oliver, Professor of Systems Biology and Biochemistry at Cambridge, “The novel thing is that Adam is able to formulate hypotheses on its own and test them. In this project, a machine has discovered new scientific knowledge.”
“As we start to consider living systems in a holistic manner, the complexity of such systems means that it will become increasingly difficult for scientists to formulate hypotheses unaided. Thus it will be necessary for human and robot scientists to work together to achieve the goals of biological research,” he concluded.
Stay tuned as the Defender takes a look at artificial intelligence (AI) and how it is going to impact the world and particularly the Black community in the not to distant future.
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