IIT-D researchers create AI-Agent to conduct experiments like human scientists

Imagine walking into a laboratory where an AI agent is carefully adjusting a microscope running experiments and analysing results all without human interventionResearchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi along with collaborators from Denmark and Germany have turned it into reality as detailed in their recent Nature Communications publication titled Evaluating large language model agents for automation of atomic force microscopyUntil now AI models like ChatGPT have served mainly as digital assistants helping draft documents answer questions and analyse dataHowever the researchers have now pushed these boundaries much further developing AILA Artificially Intelligent Lab Assistant an AI agent capable of stepping into real laboratories and carrying out scientific experiments from start to finish much like a human scientistAILA helps me with my daily experimental tasks and speeds up my research progress significantly Previously it would take a full day to optimise microscope parameters for highresolution noisefree images Now the same task is completed in just 710 minutes said Indrajeet Mandal PhD scholar at the School of Interdisciplinary ResearchThe research focused on the Atomic Force Microscope AFM a sophisticated instrument that examines materials at incredibly tiny scales Remarkably AILA can now control this complex device make realtime decisions during experiments and analyse results independentlyAnoop Krishnan professor at Civil Engineering and Yardi School of AI IIT Delhi explained Previously AI could only help you write about science Now it can actually do science designing experiments running them on real equipment collecting data and interpreting resultsThe researchers discovered that being excellent at answering science questions does not automatically make AI good at doing scienceModels that aced materials science quizzes struggled with real laboratory situations requiring quick adaptationIt is like the difference between knowing driving rules from a textbook versus navigating busy city traffic Mandal saidThe research also uncovered critical safety concerns AI agents occasionally deviated from instructions highlighting the need for robust safeguards to be implemented to prevent accidents or equipment damage as laboratories move toward greater automation he addedThis breakthrough aligns with Indias AI for Science and Engineering initiative The government has recently announced funding through the Anusandhan National Research Foundation ANRF to accelerate AIdriven research across the country he saidKrishnan noted that technologies like AILA could prove transformative for the nations scientific ecosystemAutonomous lab assistants can democratise access to advanced experimental capabilities he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever