Report on 2023 NSF Sponsored Workshop on AI-Enabled Scientific Revolution

Abstract

A two-day workshop on the Al-enabled scientific revolution was held during March 8- 9, 2023, at NSF headquarters in Alexandra, Virginia. It brought together leading experts from Al and various scientific and engineering fields (including computational biology, health sciences, neuroscience, chemical and materials science, ecology, climate science, hydrology, limnology, and physics) to identify key challenges and steps that can be taken to enable the next Al revolution in the Sciences. The workshop led the discussion on a new frontier in Al, where novel Al frameworks will drive scientific inquiry, suggest novel experiments, elucidate new theories, and thus revolutionize the traditional discovery process across multiple scientific disciplines. It identified limitations of the current state-of-the-art in Al for existing grand scientific challenge problems and discussed Al advances that are needed to catalyze synergistic research across scientific communities and how these advances can be incorporated into the practice of scientific discovery. The workshop provided an opportunity to have an open conversation with a reflection on the past, present, and future of Al-enabled scientific discoveries. Through the interactions among the participants, the workshop provided an opportunity to align future objectives and new strategies for Al.