https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/02/22/google-co-scientist-ai-cracks-superbug-problem-in-two-days-because-it-had-been-fed-the-teams-previous-paper-with-the-answer-in-it/

Skip to content
[                    ]
No results
Pivot to AI
Pivot to AI

It can't be that stupid, you must be prompting it wrong

Support this site!
Send us money!

Search
Pivot to AI
Pivot to AI

It can't be that stupid, you must be prompting it wrong

Support this site!
Send us money!

[robot-scientist]

Google Co-Scientist AI cracks superbug problem in two days! -- because
it had been fed the team's previous paper with the answer in it

  * David GerardDavid Gerard
  * 22 February 2025
  * Science

The hype cycle for Google's fabulous new AI Co-Scientist tool, based
on the Gemini LLM, includes a BBC headline about how Jose Penades'
team at Imperial College asked the tool about a problem he'd been
working on for years -- and it solved it in less than 48 hours! [BBC; 
Google]

Penades works on the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria.
Co-Scientist suggested the bacteria might be hijacking fragments of
DNA from bacteriophages. The team said that if they'd had this
hypothesis at the start, it would have saved years of work.

Sounds almost too good to be true! Because it is. It turns out
Co-Scientist had been fed a 2023 paper by Penades' team that included
a version of the hypothesis. The BBC coverage failed to mention this
bit. [New Scientist, archive]

Google's other claimed successes for Co-Scientist follow this
pattern. The system proposed new drugs for liver fibrosis -- but the
proposed drugs had previously been studied for this use case.

In 2023, Google loudly publicised how DeepMind had synthesized 43
"new materials" -- but studies in 2024 showed that none of the
materials was actually new, and that only 3 of 58 syntheses were even
successful. [APS; ChemrXiv]

"Everything was already published, but in different bits," said
Penades about Co-Scientist. "The system was able to put everything
together."

Sure. LLM-based madlibs can work as a suggestion tool.  But the
headline claim is not so convincing on AI scientific creativity.

Share this post:

  * Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  * Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  * Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  * Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  * Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window)
  * Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window)
  * Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  * 

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Tags
# Co-Scientist# DeepMind# Gemini# Google# Imperial College# Jose
Penades
[eql-laptop-300x225]
Previous Post Yahoo! Mail shows email users fake AI-mangled subject
lines
 
Next Post AI 'hacks' system to cheat at chess! -- because the
researchers told it how to
[mechanical-turk-300x225]

Pivot to AI is produced by David Gerard.

About this site 

Subscribe via email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive
notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address [                    ]

Subscribe

Support this site

Here's David's Patreon.
 
For casual tips, here's David's Ko-Fi.

RSS feeds

  * RSS - Posts
  * RSS - Comments

Recent posts

  * Microsoft plays down AI bubble, cancels data center leases
  * AI 'hacks' system to cheat at chess! -- because the researchers
    told it how to
  * Google Co-Scientist AI cracks superbug problem in two days! --
    because it had been fed the team's previous paper with the answer
    in it
  * Yahoo! Mail shows email users fake AI-mangled subject lines
  * Pivot to AI: your most cost-effective AI startup value. Subscribe
    today!

Archives

  * February 2025
  * January 2025
  * December 2024
  * November 2024
  * October 2024
  * September 2024
  * August 2024
  * July 2024
  * June 2024

Categories

  * Celebrities
  * Chatbots
  * commentary
  * Companies
  * Consumer
  * Copyright
  * Cryptocurrency
  * Education
  * Energy
  * Enterprise
  * Gadgets
  * Government
  * Health
  * Image generators
  * Journalism
  * Markets
  * Music
  * Papers
  * Regulation
  * Science
  * Search engines
  * Security
  * Singularity
  * Site news
  * Spam
  * Venture capital
  * Voice recognition
  * Web crawlers
  * Webscrapers

Leave a ReplyCancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked 
*

Name  * [                              ]

Email  * [                              ]

Website [                              ]

              [                                             ]
              [                                             ]
              [                                             ]
              [                                             ]
              [                                             ]
              [                                             ]
              [                                             ]
Add Comment * [                                             ]

[ ]Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time
I comment.

[ ] Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

[ ] Notify me of new posts by email.

Post Comment 

 [                                             ] 
 [                                             ] 
 [                                             ] 
 [                                             ] 
 [                                             ] 
 [                                             ] 
 [                                             ] 
D[                                             ] 

Copyright (c) 2024-2025 Amy Castor and David Gerard

%d