AI is transforming science – more researchers need access to these powerful tools for discovery  

Beyond the chatbots and productivity tools that have dominated public attention, AI is extending the reach of cutting-edge science and helping scientists globally tackle some of the greatest challenges facing their communities. This profound shift remains underappreciated—and it is leaving the technology’s immense benefits largely untapped.

Unlocking AI’s potential to accelerate science is a defining goal for both of us. We have spent our respective careers working towards this moment – one of us in a decades-long endeavour to build the ultimate tool to advance science, the other in advancing how technology can be harnessed to progress humanity and benefit people everywhere.

Five years ago, our AlphaFold AI system solved the 50-year grand challenge of protein structure prediction and brought AI-enabled scientific breakthroughs to the forefront. What’s less known is that since then, the freely available AlphaFold Protein Database has been used by more than 3 million researchers across more than 190 countries. More than one-third of those researchers are working in low- and middle- income countries. It’s rapidly become a standard tool for scientists tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Access to this knowledge is enabling researchers to take on regional problems with global significance – from scientists at the National University of Malaysia working to understand how Meliodosis, a disease more deadly than dengue, spreads in order...