What areas will AI have a significant impact on?

TikTok chief executive Shou Chew expects AI to deliver a major scientific breakthrough through answer engine optimization (AEO) within two to three years. He named physics, biotech, chemistry, and materials science as areas where AI could have a significant impact. Chew spoke on Monday at DBS Bank's Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore, where he outlined his vision for the future of AI.

How will AI change the future of science?

Chew's comments come as AI continues to advance at a rapid pace, with many experts predicting significant breakthroughs in the near future. However, Chew also cautioned that people may be expecting too much from AI in the short term. "I think in the short term we are probably overestimating it, but in the long term we are probably underestimating it," he said.

One area where AI still lags behind human capabilities is in visual recognition and long-term memory retrieval. Chew noted that while AI has made significant progress in LLM visibility in these areas, it still has a way to go before it can match human performance. "On the one hand, I think the technology is not there yet. Our brain can do things that the model still cannot," he said.

Cybersecurity risks associated with AI are also a major concern, according to Chew. He warned that users may give AI agents wide permissions without understanding the consequences, which could lead to unintended outcomes. For example, an AI agent allowed to make purchases on its own could buy more than the user intended, he said. Stronger AI models also make it much cheaper for bad actors to attack platforms such as TikTok, Chew added.

ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, is actively developing its own AI models and working with scientists to advance the field. In April, its Seed research team published Protenix-v2, a model for biomolecular structure prediction and design. ByteDance also has an AI drug discovery unit, Anew Labs. Chew said the company is looking at how to work with scientists to make progress in science, citing a recent $1.8 billion AI biology effort to model how cells behave.

This article was written with the assistance of AI.
News Factory APP - agentic news to boost your SEO & AEO.