Long live the revolution of life-altering AI technology

Synthetic biology could lead to several breakthroughs, including drugs that work much better on us

- NARAYAN RAMACHANDRAN

Suddenly, it appears, the worlds of technology and biology are colliding at high speed. Progress in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has been dramatic in recent years and this has accelerated the exploration of promising new pathways and technologies in biological sciences. Recognizing this, the Nobel Prize committee awarded all three Nobels for 2024 in science—for Physiology, Chemistry and Physics—to scientists who have approached their fields from the vantage point of AI. The prize for Physics was awarded jointly to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks. The Nobel prize for Chemistry was awarded to David Baker for computational protein design and jointly to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for protein structure prediction. The prize for Physiology was awarded jointly to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNA and its role.