Dr. Josephson collaborates to develop new AI scientist

Dr. Tyler Josephson, assistant professor of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering at UMBC, in collaboration with researchers at IBM Research, Samsung AI, developed AI-Descartes, a new AI scientist, which reproduced key parts of Nobel Prize-winning work, including Langmuir’s gas behavior equations and Kepler’s third law of planetary motion. Supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the AI system utilizes symbolic regression to find equations fitting data, and its most distinctive feature is its logical reasoning ability. This enables AI-Descartes to determine which equations best fit with background scientific theory. The system is particularly effective with noisy, real-world data and small data sets. The team is working on creating new datasets and training computers to read scientific papers and construct background theories to refine and expand the system’s capabilities.

Cornelio, C., Dash, S., Austel, V. et al. Combining data and theory for derivable scientific discovery with AI-Descartes. Nat Commun 14, 1777 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37236-y

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