Nobel Winner: AI Will Speed Up Scientific Breakthroughs

The scientist who just won chemistry's highest honor believes artificial intelligence is about to transform how we discover new things about our world.

Omar Yaghi, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and now a professor at Tsinghua University, says AI will do far more than just speed up research. It will help scientists identify which materials work better, cost less, and cause less environmental harm.

But Yaghi sees something even more exciting on the horizon. He believes AI will push researchers to ask questions they never would have thought of on their own.

"Science is all about questions," Yaghi explained in his interview with China Media Group. "It's all about figuring out what is that important question."

The real breakthrough, according to Yaghi, isn't just faster answers. It's asking the right questions in the first place, something AI excels at by finding patterns and connections humans might miss.

Yaghi describes a powerful cycle where observation leads to inquiry, which generates data and knowledge that helps solve real problems. AI supercharges this entire process, making it faster and more effective than ever before.

The Ripple Effect

This vision comes at a crucial moment for global science. Twenty-nine countries just signed an agreement in Shanghai to establish the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, an independent intergovernmental body focused on making AI beneficial, safe, and fair for everyone.

UN Under-Secretary-General Amandeep Singh Gill highlighted the importance of this multilateral approach. Many countries lack the talent, datasets, computer infrastructure, and access to advanced models needed to participate in the AI revolution.

The new organization aims to bridge this AI divide, ensuring that scientific breakthroughs powered by artificial intelligence benefit all of humanity, not just wealthy nations. Digital Cooperation Organization chief Alaa Abdulaal calls any initiative that opens dialogue and ensures everyone participates in the digital economy a huge achievement.

Yaghi's optimism about AI helping identify greener, cheaper materials addresses some of humanity's most pressing challenges. From climate change to resource scarcity, the questions AI helps us ask today could lead to the solutions that transform tomorrow.

For a Nobel laureate who has spent his career making groundbreaking discoveries in chemistry, Yaghi's enthusiasm for AI as a research partner signals a genuinely hopeful shift in how science moves forward.