AI Sweeps 2024 Nobel Prize in Science... "New Opportunities for Korea Too" [AK Radio]

Nobel Prize in Physics Also Goes to AI Research
Expectations to Overcome Basic Science Gaps Through AI

In October 2024, Nobel Prize week caused a significant stir in the global scientific community. Particularly, the inclusion of numerous artificial intelligence (AI) researchers among the laureates of the Physics and Chemistry Prizes reaffirmed the impact of AI on scientific research. This event is regarded as a symbolic milestone that goes beyond merely acknowledging the advancement of AI technology, indicating a fundamental shift in the paradigm of scientific research itself.

The Physics Prize was awarded to Professor Geoffrey Hinton and his research team, known as pioneers of deep learning. Professor Hinton, often called the godfather of AI research, was recognized for laying the foundation of deep learning technology. Notably, the announcement of the Physics Prize winners completely overturned expectations. Traditionally given for fundamental research in physics, awarding this prize to AI researchers was an unprecedented occurrence.

The Chemistry Prize was awarded to the Google DeepMind research team that developed 'AlphaFold,' an AI for protein structure prediction. AlphaFold is considered a revolutionary technology in the life sciences field. It enabled AI to solve protein structure research, which previously took decades, in just a few hours. This breakthrough is expected to provide a significant leap forward in various life science research areas, including new drug development.

This Nobel Prize win demonstrates that AI has established itself not just as a supplementary tool but as a core driving force in scientific research. AI is transcending the limitations of traditional research methods and opening new horizons for discovery. This can be seen as a signal heralding fundamental changes in research methodologies across the scientific community.

Meanwhile, the news of this Nobel Prize win has also caused a significant impact on the Korean scientific community. Korea has not yet produced a Nobel laureate in basic science fields. Experts have pointed out that Korean scientific research has been focused on applied fields, with insufficient investment and support for basic research.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

However, with the rapid changes in the research environment brought about by the emergence of AI, new opportunities are opening up for the Korean scientific community as well. In the past, it was difficult to catch up with the basic research achievements accumulated over centuries by advanced countries, but now there is potential to quickly narrow this gap by utilizing AI. Especially, AI-driven research can overcome human resource limitations, which could be advantageous for Korea, where research personnel are relatively scarce.

To achieve this, several prerequisite tasks must be addressed. First, it is urgent to establish the latest AI infrastructure that researchers can freely use. Securing high-performance GPUs, essential for AI research, is particularly important. Although the government recently announced plans to build a national AI data center worth 2 trillion won, experts agree that this alone is insufficient. More bold investments are necessary to achieve world-class research.

Additionally, a culture that encourages challenging and creative research is needed. An environment where researchers can try new ideas without fear of failure must be established. To this end, the government recently announced a research support policy that 'tolerates failure.' While this is seen as a positive change, it remains to be seen how it will be applied in actual research settings.

Active participation from private companies is also important. In the United States, companies like Microsoft and Google contribute to research advancement by providing computing resources to university researchers. For example, Professor David Baker, who won the Nobel Chemistry Prize, reportedly conducted his research with substantial computing resources supported by Microsoft. Such industry-academia collaboration models need to be activated in Korea as well.

Although the paradigm of scientific research is changing with the advent of the AI era, experts emphasize that AI is a complementary tool rather than a replacement for humans. Creative idea generation and verification of research results remain the responsibility of humans. Therefore, nurturing talent capable of effectively utilizing AI is also a crucial task. It is not only technical skills to handle AI but also insight to interpret AI results and formulate new hypotheses that are required.

Professor Geoffrey Hinton of the University of Toronto, Canada, winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.
[Image source=Reuters·Yonhap News]

This Nobel Prize win has also sparked discussions about the dual nature of AI technology. Particularly, Professor Geoffrey Hinton, the Physics laureate, drew attention by expressing concerns about the rapid pace of AI development. In his acceptance speech, he mentioned AI safety and emphasized the need to ensure that AI technology does not pose a threat to humanity. This suggests that ethical and social considerations must accompany AI technological advancements.

Meanwhile, it has been noted that Korean scientists contributed to the Nobel Prize-winning research. A Korean scientist was part of the research team that received the Chemistry Prize. Professor Min-Kyung Baek of Seoul National University has experience working with Professor David Baker’s team and contributed to related research. This is an example showing that Korean scientists are participating in world-class research.

Following this Nobel Prize, the Korean scientific community is expected to accelerate research actively utilizing AI. Interest in basic science research using AI is anticipated to increase. There is growing hope that AI can become a new breakthrough in the basic science fields, which have been pointed out as weaknesses in Korea.

However, experts caution against excessive dependence on AI. AI is ultimately just a tool, and human creativity and intuition must remain at the core of research. Therefore, alongside AI utilization skills, nurturing talent with a deep understanding of basic science and creative thinking abilities is emphasized as important.

Furthermore, discussions on the reliability and verifiability of research results derived from AI are necessary. The scientific community needs to reach a consensus on how to verify AI-generated results and how to transparently disclose the process.

In conclusion, this Nobel Prize has showcased the new horizons of scientific research opened by AI. At the same time, it has presented new challenges and opportunities for the Korean scientific community. Through investment and support for AI-driven research, fostering a creative research culture, and strengthening industry-academia collaboration, Korea has the opportunity to leap to a world-class level. Whether AI will become a new springboard for Korean science remains to be seen.

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