🔬 An Oscar, Two Asteroids, and the Algorithm in Your sklearn: John Platt on AI for Science
Google's Empirical Research Assistance (ERA) uses Gemini and tree search to automate solving any scoreable scientific problem.
“It's almost like having a hyper-eager grad student who doesn't sleep.”
John Platt and Google unveiled Empirical Research Assistance (ERA), a system that uses Gemini with Monte Carlo Tree Search-style exploration to automatically evolve code that maximizes a 'score' for scientific problems. A step change between Gemini 2.0 and 2.5 took the approach from non-functional to highly effective, signaling that frontier LLMs can now drive genuine scientific discovery.