Project description
Why AI needs to learn the language of physics
Modern scientific discovery operates in two fractured worlds: the vast, empirical realm of big data and machine learning, and the precise, mechanistic realm of physics simulations. These two approaches clash, leading to inefficient analyses and a failure to fully track uncertainty when combining theory with observation. This ERC-funded project aims to bridge this divide. It introduces Probabilistic Numerical Methods as a unifying language, reframing all computation as a form of inference. This holistic framework will allow researchers to robustly blend experimental data with established physical laws. By developing a semantic language for all types of knowledge, the project promises to create a toolbox for quantitative science, ushering in a new era of robust discovery.
Objective
"Scientific knowledge enters computers through data on the one side, and laws of nature – implicit equations like differential equations and symmetries – on the other. They both provide information, empirical and mechanistic, respectively, crucial to the deduction of new insights. But the algorithms that operate on these sources of information stem from different communities and different eras: machine learning – ""big data"" – on the one hand, and simulation methods – high performance computing – on the other. One of the problems that arise from this disconnect is that inferring latent forces that drive dynamical systems from data requires ""shoehorning"" different algorithms together in inefficient optimization loops; another one is that uncertainty from discretization and emulation is not fully tracked.
Probabilistic numerical methods have emerged over the last decade as a holistic view on computation as inference. They provide a unifying language that can leverage empirical and mechanistic information. This proposal outlines a research program to complement and scale probabilistic numerical methods to enrich the quantitative scientist's toolbox along three axes: First, unifying uncertainty from empirical and computational knowledge in one common formalism, which allows the direct and robust combination of simulation and experimentation. Second, developing a rich and practical semantic language for the description of different types of knowledge – mechanistic, empirical, practical. Third, significant computational efficiency gains achieved by managing the computational process globally, instead of as a series of black boxes. Real scientific tasks will provide benchmarks and ensure practical relevance. An open-source software toolbox, complemented by regular summer schools, will ensure that the results reach their audience. As a result, ANUBIS will start a genuinely novel kind of quantitative scientific analysis at the intersection of simulation and machine learning."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
72074 Tuebingen
Germany
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