Greace Huckins

The explosion of public, large-scale datasets and the rapid advancement of AI have led to a radical change in the way that science operates. As scientists have become more and more enamoured of data and how its collection can enable us to make more accurate predictions, the long-standing objective of using science to better understand the world around us is being deprioritised. It now makes sense to question for the first time whether science is primarily about developing new technologies and interventions or understanding the universe – two goals which until now were one and the same. Informed by their initial research, Huckins foresees a future in which this tension is further exacerbated by the development of even more advanced AI systems, which will deliver better predictions at a cost to explainability, bringing the objectives of prediction and understanding into direct conflict.