Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s AI Acquisition Will Make Science Free for All

Back in September, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – the philanthropic company set up by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan – set a goal to invest $3 billion to cure, prevent, and manage disease by the end of the century.

Meta could help scientists find the latest papers related to their own projects, while assisting funding organizations to collaborate with researchers and identify high-potential areas for investment or impact. What’s special about Meta is that its AI recognizes authors and citations between papers so it can surface the most important research instead of just what has the best SEO. It also provides free full-text access to 18,000 journals and literature sources.

Meta co-founder and CEO Sam Molyneux writes that “Going forward, our intent is not to profit from Meta’s data and capabilities; instead we aim to ensure they get to those who need them most, across sectors and as quickly as possible, for the benefit of the world.”

The company has taken a huge first step toward the objective by partnering with scientists, doctors, engineers, and other key stakeholders. With the acquisition of Toronto-based company, Meta, the team is moving even closer to their goal by creating tools and technology designed to empower the scientific community.

Well this is quite a gesture on Chan and Mark's (organization)part. They are using 3 billion for this project should and that should be able to provide significant results…we hope at least.

While I have mixed feelings about AI in general, I have no doubt that it will be able assist humanity in ways we have not been able to at this point. Computation speed/ capacity, availability and connective potential and basically the sum of all knowledge will enable AI to be our strongest force of intellect and application, at least in a measurable totality of abilities.

Cori Bargmann, president of Science, and Brian Pinkerton, president of Technology for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, explain how Meta could be used, writing:

The potential for this kind of platform is virtually limitless: a researcher could use Meta to help identify emerging techniques for understanding coronary artery disease; a graduate student could see that two different diseases activate the same immune defense pathway; and clinicians could find scientists working on the most promising Zika treatments sooner. In the long run, it could be extended to other areas of knowledge: for example, it could help educators stay up to date on developmental science to better understand how children learn.The potential for this kind of platform is virtually limitless: a researcher could use Meta to help identify emerging techniques for understanding coronary artery disease; a graduate student could see that two different diseases activate the same immune defense pathway; and clinicians could find scientists working on the most promising Zika treatments sooner. In the long run, it could be extended to other areas of knowledge: for example, it could help educators stay up to date on developmental science to better understand how children learn.

Yes medically this will be huge, both for individuals and collective. I wonder if we the public will be able to access this for self education too? Could we finally get some straight(er) answers instead of sifting thru so many pseudo musings?

This is kind of like literally getting more people on the same page at same time and the page is unbiased or cherry-picked, instead all that is available is used, which includes peer reviewed material, that in this case could the increase number of peers, speeding up the process and getting more effective results.

By taking Meta out of the commercial space and refocusing ans maximizing its value, CZI could solve one of science’s biggest problems for a much wider community. Simply put, there’s far too much research for any one scientist or even a whole team to keep up with. 2,000-4,000 papers are published each day about biomedicine alone, yet it’s hard to search across them or figure out which are the most reputable.

Meta, formerly known as Sciencescape, indexes entire repositories of papers like PubMed and crawls the web, identifying and building profiles for the authors while analyzing who cites or links to what. It’s effectively Google PageRank for science, making it simple to discover relevant papers and prioritize which to read. It even adapts to provide feeds of updates on newly published research related to your previous searches. Here’s how it assists different parts of the research community:

Scientists can find the latest data and analysis on their areas of research, determine experiments that have already been performed that they don’t need to replicate and find new opportunities for investigation
Funding organizations like universities and foundations can get in touch with authors to back their future work, or spot trends of where breakthroughs are being made so they can funnel resources correctly
Students can ditch shallow Google searches that rely on exact term matches and SEO to rank results, and instead find papers that are most relevant to their research and are from commonly cited established scientists
Schools can ensure their curriculum are up to date and training students for the areas of science with the most potential for advancement

Exactly…too much info to properly sort thru and assess for humans, comparatively.

This super search engine will allow more scientists and students from all over to review, participate and share information more fluidly, not being limited by
SEO - Search Engine Optimization Free journals sounds great too, instead of another added expense and effort in researching.

FREE FOR ALL

Democratizing science is a big deal for the scientific community. Last year, NASA announced that all research it has funded will be free and accessible to anyone through their new open portal PubSpace. A company called ScienceMatters is also seeking to provide an open-access, peer review platform that eliminates the politics behind scientific research and publication.

But the importance of Meta in the context of making science accessible to everyone is anchored in its AI-driven technology. Thousands of scientific papers are published every day, and the sheer volume of available data means it’s hard to whittle it down to what’s most important to individual studies. Ultimately, access is just one part of the challenge. For access to information to truly empower the scientific community, one has to be able to systematically analyze and review all the available data available. That’s where Meta comes in. It can easily find the most relevant material that will further the research in a fraction of the time it would take a human.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative knows that even with the family’s massive fortune, it can’t fund every dimension of science. But if it can provide scalable tools that make every scientist more effective by freeing their creators from the hunt for profit, CZI can become a fulcrum for humanity.

It seems this technology could really be a game changer, with the intent of ending all disease by end of century.(cue star trek fantasy hope) "Intent not to profit," now that's welcoming news when it comes to scientific research these days.

While reading this I thought about down the line and if AI will ever become biased, and if so…how? Political? Ecological? Philosophical?
I wish it luck on maintaining balance between what is optimally good for humans and what is optimally good for planet and resources.
For now, I am grateful for it's ability to connect and generate a broader awareness amongst us earthlings. This tech hopefully will know no borders and can benefit all regardless of situation.

techcrunch.com...
futurism.com...

But think of the children, without Skynet the children will suffer.

You don't want the children to suffer do you?



I don't see what could go wrong with these liberal turds dictating what science is "fake news" using AI processing speed.

a reply to: Mandroid7

I don't see what could go wrong with these liberal turds dictating what science is "fake news" using AI processing speed.

Exactly. After billions wasted they still havent found non lethal treatments for cancer.

a reply to: waftist

Funny how this 'initiative' is in the form of an LLC.

I dont trust suckerberg hes a snake.

I can't help my cynicism. I really can't. There is an underlying way to profit immensely here, if we peel back the layers of what is happening. I just know it.

RE: where would AI err....it will always be guided by whatever directive sits at its core. I would assume the coding will not be able to create conflicts internally, and will be created with a set of operational rules in mind. That is the only thing that matters, and it will never err. It will always act in the greatest interest of whatever its operational framework dictates.

I don't see what could go wrong with these liberal turds dictating what science is "fake news" using AI processing speed.

I believe this info will be available and contributed to by all ,not just libs. Do you think it will do more harm than good? I think it will transcend politics.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

I hear ya, but do you think it's possible for an objective approach, using summation of all info for better results? More can weigh in and contribute, making it, imo a more informed and effective process for dissemination of facts.
I envision it's operational framework, at least for this specific project as opposed to AI in general, as being beneficial and more encompassing of information, which is still the natural process for truth, gathering info, sorting through it and contributing to it accordingly. I think this is a good step forward ultimately. Sure there may be some shortcomings, but I feel the good will outweigh any negative as long as it stays open for all. I for one am glad to see an attempt at unifying scientific research so that the work doesn't fall short at profits or conflicts of interests, and more groups from all sides can contribute, critique and resolve.

originally posted by: ColdWisdom
a reply to: waftist

Funny how this 'initiative' is in the form of an LLC.

Initially yes, but ultimately it will not belong(be restricted) to just one entity. It will serve and be available for all I believe. They will make the tools and technology.
" Chan Zuckerberg initiative will enhance the service before eventually rolling it out for free."

a reply to: waftist

He who controls what are and are not facts controls humanity.

Given the propensity for science to accept (and then create dogma from) flawed papers steeped in confirmation bias and shady statistics, im not sure what benefit an aggregator/compiler of this erroneous thinking would provide.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Hmm, well the process needs some type of improvement and this one of the better ideas I've seen.
What if the "controller of facts" actually serves it's purpose by providing all info pertaining to subject and allows all to chime in for results? That sounds better than what we have now and by bringing in other countries, institutions and scientists onboard for both contributions and scrutiny I feel that it will be better. We certainly need something to address the creation and flow of research info, because as of now there is fleeting trust with scientific studies and we inevitably need continued research in science and medicine.

I guess I'm a glass half full guy and applaud this effort for it's intent at the very least.

Thx for reply

a reply to: waftist

I applaud the effort.....

....but am pretty good at understanding people and what motivates them. I'd love nothing more than to see altruism actually rear its head. Im begging the fates to prove me wrong.