Tracing a new path in the field of AI and robotics: mimicking human intelligence through chemistry. Part I: molecular and supramolecular chemistry

Front Robot AI. 2023 Sep 8:10:1238492. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2023.1238492. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Chemical Artificial Intelligence (CAI) is a brand-new research line that exploits molecular, supramolecular, and systems chemistry in wetware (i.e., in fluid solutions) to imitate some performances of human intelligence and promote unconventional robotics based on molecular assemblies, which act in the microscopic world, otherwise tough to be accessed by humans. It is undoubtedly worth spreading the news that AI researchers can rely on the help of chemists and biotechnologists to reach the ambitious goals of building intelligent systems from scratch. This article reports the first attempt at building a Chemical Artificial Intelligence knowledge map and describes the basic intelligent functions that can be implemented through molecular and supramolecular chemistry. Chemical Artificial Intelligence provides new tools and concepts to mimic human intelligence because it shares, with biological intelligence, the same principles and materials. It enables peculiar dynamics, possibly not accessible in software and hardware domains. Moreover, the development of Chemical Artificial Intelligence will contribute to a deeper understanding of the strict link between intelligence and life, which are two of the most remarkable emergent properties shown by the Complex Systems we call biological organisms.

Keywords: chemical artificial intelligence; fuzzy molecules; molecular logic gates; molecular machines; molecular motors; molecular probes.

Grants and funding

This work has been funded by the European Union-NextGenerationEU under the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) National Innovation Ecosystem grant ECS00000041—VITALITY—CUP J97G22000170005.