We live in transformative times at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) language models (LLMs) and complex science. A new study shows how an AI system called Coscientist uses GPT-4, a large language model, to learn and apply Nobel Prize-winning chemistry as well as design, plan, and execute laboratory experiments.

The study was led by Gabe Gomes, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and was co-authored by Ben Kline, Robert MacKnight, and Daniil Boiko. Gomes is recognized as a rising star in chemistry and in 2022 was named to Chemical & Engineering News’ “Talented 12.”

Long before chemistry became a formal scientific field of study, humans throughout the ages applied chemical processes such as making ochre paint for cave art, brewing beer, fermenting wine, soap making, glass making, and metallurgy, the extracting of metals from ores.

Modern chemistry, the study of matter and its interactions and reactions to energy and environments, traces back to the initial quantitative experiments of metallurgy performed in a systematic manner. The origins of word chemistry can be traced to the word alchemy from “alchimsta” in Latin, “al-kimiya” in Arabic, and “chemeia” in Greek, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Early innovators of modern chemistry include 17th-century Anglo-Irish intellectual, natural philosopher, and theologian Robert Boyle (1627-1691), who authored The Sceptical Chymist in 1661, and French chemist and nobleman Antoine-Laurent........

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