Science and Technology in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Innovations, Applications, and Future Challenges

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the defining general-purpose technology of the present era, reshaping the methods of science, the capabilities of technology, and the structure of society. This article reviews science and technology in the era of AI across three dimensions: the innovations that define the era, the applications transforming research and industry, and the challenges that its rapid advance has raised. We trace the technical trajectory from symbolic artificial intelligence through the deep-learning revolution catalysed by large labelled datasets and graphics-processing hardware, to the recent rise of generative AI and foundation models, culminating in the public arrival of conversational systems such as ChatGPT in late 2022. We characterise the modern AI era as a layered stack in which abundant data and computation support machine-learning methods, which in turn yield capabilities in perception, language, generation, and decision-making that are deployed across an expanding range of applications. We survey those applications in science—where AI has accelerated protein-structure prediction, drug and materials discovery, and the analysis of vast experimental datasets—and in technology and industry, from computer vision and natural language processing to autonomous systems, smart manufacturing, and generative media. Finally, we analyse the future challenges that accompany these advances, organised around the goal of trustworthy and responsible AI: algorithmic bias and fairness, transparency and explainability, privacy, safety and robustness, accountability and governance, labour and economic disruption, and environmental cost. We conclude that AI’s transformative potential for science and technology is matched by the magnitude of the societal questions it raises, and that realising its benefits responsibly will require advances in governance, transparency, and human oversight as substantial as the technical advances themselves.