March 10, 2024. A.I. Is Learning What It Means to Be Alive
Given troves of data about genes and cells, A.I. models have made some surprising discoveries.
What could they teach us someday?
/By Carl Zimmer/
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The computers crunched the data on their own, creating a model of all the cells based
on their similarity to each other in a vast, multidimensional space. When the machines
were done, they had learned an astonishing amount. They could classify a cell they
had never seen before as one of over 1,000 different types. One of those was the Norn cell.
“That’s remarkable, because nobody ever told the model that a Norn cell exists in the kidney,”
said Jure Leskovec, a computer scientist at Stanford who trained the computers.
The software is one of several new A.I.-powered programs, known as foundation models,
that are setting their sights on the fundamentals of biology. The models are not simply
tidying up the information that biologists are collecting. They are making discoveries
about how genes work and how cells develop.
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Just how far they will go is a matter of debate. While some skeptics think the models
are going to hit a wall, more optimistic scientists believe that foundation models
will even tackle the biggest biological question of them all: What separates life from nonlife?
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March 10, 2024. A.I. Is Learning What It Means to Be Alive
Re: March 10, 2024. A.I. Is Learning What It Means to Be Alive
How do these A.I. models use data to create multidimensional representations of cells and classify them into different types, including previously unknown types like the Norn cell?
Re: March 10, 2024. A.I. Is Learning What It Means to Be Alive
In the end, I'm afraid, the answer will conform to the criterion articulated by the pre-socratic geometers: define "life", and "non-life", and the question will answer itself.