| This week Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield, whose foundational work on neural networks paved the way for today’s AI revolution, were awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics and AI researchers David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their innovative use of AI to predict and design protein structures, revolutionizing fields like drug discovery and disease understanding.
Both awards underscore AI’s ability to accelerate science.But not everyone benefits enough from science and technology today. That’s why while the prizes were being announced in Stockholm, The Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA), was convening 1,000 scientists, diplomats, policymakers, innovators, executives and citizens from around the world in Switzerland for its annual summit under the theme of “The Great Scientific Acceleration.” GESDA, a Swiss Foundation initiated by the Swiss Federal Government and the City and Canton of Geneva, bring together different communities to jointly anticipate scientific and technological advancements and, based on them, develop inclusive and global solutions to help solve some of humanities biggest global challenges. “The GESDA summit is a live demonstration of our science and diplomacy proposal: making diplomacy aware of game-changing scientific breakthroughs, so that by anticipating decision makers can set up governance frameworks which maximize opportunities for all,” says GESDA’s Gerard Escher, a biologist by training. GESDA aims to act as a “honest broker” between the scientific community, diplomats, citizens, philanthropists and the private sector, encouraging open debates about how to shape the future and identifying opportunities for actions that can be taken today. The principal tool for this is the just released GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar, a detailed examination of the possibilities envisaged for the future across the natural, social and engineering sciences, as well as the humanities and philosophy. By directly engaging with researchers in their respective fields and through the appointment of specialized committees it anticipates research trends over the next 5,10 and 25 years. The 2024 Radar provides an overview of emerging trends in five selected major areas of science and technology. A total of 40 emerging scientific themes and 348 breakthroughs are covered in the report, which was comprised with the input of some 2,100 scientists and experts from 87 countries This year some of the breakthroughs highlighted in the report and at the conference were on unconventional computing, neurotechnology, eco-augmentation, climate resilience and food systems, space-based R&D and the future of intellectual property protections. Sabrina Maniscalco, a professor at the University of Helsinki,who represented Finland’s Quantum National strategy at the White House in May 2022, spoke about how quantum computing -one of the new unconventional forms of computing – combined with AI will transform medicine into a precise science. But as AI accelerates scientific progress and patent creation, the clash between the human right to benefit from scientific progress and its application (the human right to science) and the right for innovators to protect their inventions is intensifying. How can we design future protection models that balance innovation, access, and fairness in a rapidly evolving technological landscape? That was the main focus a panel discussion at the conference about copyright in the age of AI moderated by The Innovator’s Editor-in-Chief. Panelists included James Donovan, OpenAI’s head of science policy and partnerships, Ken-Ichiro Nasume, Assistant Director General at the World Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO), Antony Taubman, the former Director, Intellectual Property, Government Procurement & Competition Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Christine Allan de Lavenne, an intellectual property lawyer and human rights and innovation expert. OpenAI’s Donavan pointed out that AI infrastructure’s growing importance to scientific advances. If AI is playing an important part then the AI developer should share in the benefits, he said. But AI developers like OpenAI could also play a key role in helping to democratize access to the technology for smaller labs under some type of licensing agreements or other form of benefit sharing, he said during the panel. The panelists talked about how there is an opportunity to rethink the system and share better, to share differently, and benefit from scientific advances in new ways. Space poses challenges of its own. A summit panel focused on the expanding public and private access to space is blurring the line between exploration and exploitation, requiring international governance to ensure equitable benefits and preservation of these global commons in space and on Earth. The conference also tackled the future of food. AI is emerging as a key technology for managing complex systems such as farms and soils. These advances in AI will be complemented by the development of smaller and cheaper in situ sensors, as well as remote sensors, to closely monitor farms. Approaches in nanotechnology can have applications in agriculture, improving soil quality, through nano-engineered additives. And bioengineering can bring more, new and better food to the global market. But to succeed these advances need to be accepted by everyone and be distributed equitably. .In one session it was pointed out that global funding of projects on crop resilience did not include any from the developing world. There were, however, some encouraging examples of democratization of science. MIT, for example, is sharing a project to use a liquid form of silk it developed to give produce a longer shelf life with researchers in Morocco so that they can build on the advance with a locally sourced alternative plant material. Discussions around eco-augmentation focused in part on how cutting-edge science can be used to solve real world problems in the Global South but it requires paying attention to local issues. For example, In one region of Africa villagers stopped planting sorghum, a cereal grain plant of the grass family which is a major food crop there, and were suffering from hunger. The reason cited was that sorghum can grow as high as 15 feet tall and rebel forces would hide in the fields to attack them. Scientists were able develop dwarf plants to solve the issue. The summit also highlighted how the issue of technological progress concerns multilateral politics. During an August visit to GESDA’s Geneva headquarters members of the United Nations Security Council learned how technological advances in AI, quantum technologies, synthetic biology and neurotechnology will reshape the global security landscape over the next five, ten and twenty-five years. To ensure that current and future leaders and the general public are sufficiently informed GESDA announced a Knowledge Augmentation Initiative at the 2024 Summit that will include: Knowledge For Future Leaders: A program to train and prepare decision makers across society for a world accelerated by science and technology. In 2025 to incubate this initiative five anticipatory leadership weeks will be organized with host partners in five different regions of the world. Knowledge For Diplomats: A digital tool for political intelligence – that puts scientific advances into a broader context through the lens of “prosperity, peace and security, and human rights.” The first pilot application, focused on neurotechnology, will be launched in October 2024 Knowledge For the Public: An interactive portal will provide citizens with an accessible entry point into science and technology. The first pilot installation will be part of the Swiss Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo in 2025. IN OTHER NEWS THIS WEEK MOBILITY Elon Musk Unveils Tesla’s ‘Cybercab’ Robotaxis Elon Musk showed off his “Cybercab” , predicting the Tesla self-driving taxi would be available for less than $30,000. “I think the cost of autonomous transport will be so low that you can think of it like individualized mass transit,” Musk said on October 10. He said production of the robotaxis was likely to start before 2027, with the caveat that the service needed to be approved by regulators. He also unveiled a prototype for a 20-person autonomous vehicle called “the Robovan”. ANTITRUST The U.S. Justice Department Is Considering Google Breakup |
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on October 8 made recommendations for Google’s search engine business practices, indicating that it was considering a possible breakup of the tech giant as an antitrust remedy.
The remedies necessary to “prevent and restrain monopoly maintenance could include contract requirements and prohibitions; non-discrimination product requirements; data and interoperability requirements; and structural requirements,” the department said in a filing.
The DOJ also said it was “considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features — including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence — over rivals or new entrants.”
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