- Mozambique starts tallying votes in tense election
- Zelensky moves to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- Rodgers rejects 'false' suggestions of role in Saleh dismissal
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Lebanon facing 'catastrophic' situation as 600,000 displaced: UN
- US warns Israel not to repeat Gaza destruction in Lebanon
- Musk's X returns in Brazil after 40-day showdown with judge
- Call her savvy? Harris unleashes unconventional media blitz
- Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale
- SoFi Stadium to hold next two CONCACAF Nations League finals
- McIlroy and DeChambeau set for PGA-LIV 'Showdown' in Vegas
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Run blitz edges India and South Africa closer to World Cup semi-finals
- Zelensky to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Israel captain says 'difficult' to focus on football in time of war
- Macron to host Ukraine's Zelensky after meeting Ukrainian troops
- Root says 'many more to get' after England Test runs landmark
- India pile up World Cup high to rout Sri Lanka
- One year later, Israeli hostage family learns of loss
- Texans receiver Collins, Pats' safety Peppers out for NFL clash
- Biden-Netanyahu talk as Hezbollah, Israeli forces clash
- Musk's X available again in Brazil after 40-day ban
- Reddy stars as India crush Bangladesh to clinch T20 series
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- Arch rivals Ghana, Nigeria drawn together in CHAN qualifying
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Trump lauds India's Modi as 'total killer'
- Wall Street, Europe rise as Chinese shares tumble
- Hunkering down for Hurricane Milton at Disney -- but first, a few rides
- Reddy, Rinku power India to 221-9 in second Bangladesh T20
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Time running out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- The long walk for water in the parched Colombian Amazon
- Biden-Netanyahu to talk as Hezbollah, Israeli forces clash
- France vows to step up drugs fight after police vehicles torched
- Air France says jet flew over Iraq during Iran attack on Israel
- Activists target Picasso work to protest Israel arms sales
- Let 'Emily in Paris' remain in Paris, Macron says
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Record-breaking Root helps England dominate Pakistan in first Test
- German govt sees economy shrinking again in 2024
- Ex-UK soldier denies passing secrets to Iran intelligence
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work revealing the secrets of proteins through artificial intelligence said Wednesday they hoped their research would "open the door to many incredible scientific breakthroughs".
But they also warned of the dangers of AI, saying that while it had "extraordinary potential for good", it could also have negative effects if allowed to develop unchecked.
Americans David Baker and John Jumper, together with Briton Demis Hassabis, were honoured for cracking the code behind the structure of proteins, the building blocks of life.
The jury hailed their work as holding "enormous potential" in a range of fields.
At a press conference in London following the announcement, Jumper said the prize "represents the promise of computational biology".
"We want to make the world a better place, and we have these incredibly powerful tools to do it. We're ultimately going to make people healthy because of the work we do with AI," he added.
"I hope this is just a sign that we have opened the door to many incredible scientific breakthroughs."
Their work could have particular importance in the field of drug discovery, noted Hassabis.
"We think there's a huge potential there to revolutionise the way drug discovery is done, and try and shorten it down from almost a decade or more of work to... maybe months," he said.
AI particularly lends itself to molecular biology because it is able to identify "patterns that we never see," said Jumper.
"Medicine is hard because we don't understand how the body works in its extraordinary complexity," he added, calling their work "a step towards doing that".
- Late call -
Both Jumper and Hassabis said they had given up on getting the call, as the minutes ticked down to the announcement.
"I don't think they had either of our numbers, funnily enough," said Hassabis.
"So we got the call very late. We just thought 'it's not happening', or at least I did."
Jumper said that he was still waiting with only 30 minutes to go.
"I turned to my wife, and I said: 'Well, I guess it's not this year'.
"And then 30 seconds later, I got this phone call from Sweden, and I absolutely could not believe it."
Hassabis, 48, said his gaming background was the foundation of his computational expertise, and encouraged children to follow a similar path.
"I would actually encourage kids to play games, but not just to play them, but the most important thing is to try and make them.
"It's just a really fun way to get into the guts of how computers work," he added.
However, Hassabis sounded a note of caution about AI, which he called "one of the most transformative technologies in human history".
It has "the extraordinary potential for good... but also it can be used for harm," he said, warning "we have to really think very hard as these systems and techniques get more powerful".
"I'm a big believer in human ingenuity," Hassabis added, arguing "given enough time and enough resources and enough smart people", humanity can solve many of its most vexing problems.
L.Dubois--BTB