AI and machine learning systems have shown great evolution and added value for scientific research in various fields. With this in mind, Sony Computer Science Laboratories CEO Hiroaki Kitano plans to create a "hybrid form of science that will take systems biology and other sciences to the next stage.". To this end, Kitano seeks to launch the Nobel Turing Challenge and develop a scientific robot capable of winning the Nobel Prize by 2050.

In other words, the researcher aims to create an Artificial Intelligence that is able to match some of the most brilliant minds in human history. "The particular feature of this challenge is to put the system in an open domain to explore significant discoveries, rather than rediscovering what we already know or trying to mimic speculated human thought processes."  Wrote In June Kitano. "The vision is to reshape scientific discovery itself and create an alternative form of scientific discovery," the researcher stressed.

"The value is in developing machines that can make discoveries continuously and autonomously," he added. "Scientific AI will generate and verify as many hypotheses as possible, hoping that some can lead to major discoveries on their own or be a basis for other major discoveries. The ability to generate hypotheses thoroughly and efficiently and verify them is the core of the system," he explained.

Today's Artificial Intelligence is the result of many years of research and experimentation, going back to 1950 with the article Computational Machinery and Intelligenceby Alan Turing. Sony's head of AI research, hopes to take this a step further and create the "AI Scientist," which, according to Kitano, is a "constellation of software and hardware modules that interact dynamically in order to perform tasks."

"Initially, it will be a set of useful tools that automate part of the research process in experimentation and data analysis," the researcher told Engadget.