AI In Materials Science: Prospects And Pitfalls

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are already key technologies of the 21st century and have found applications in diverse fields, from search engines and social media algorithms, to self-driving cars and medical diagnostic tools. AI also has the potential to revolutionise the development of new materials, which until now has been an empirical and relatively slow process. In this article, we take a look at the prospects for developments in this field, as well some of the pitfalls which will have to be overcome when it comes to patenting AI inventions in Europe.

Research prospects

The possible applications of AI and ML in materials science and engineering are myriad and have been set out in detail in various review papers.^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5} Example applications of AI include: