10 Key Questions of Intelligent Computing

10 fundamental scientific questions on intelligent computing.

“Can machines think?” In his ground-breaking paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” published in 1950, Alan Turing raised this epoch-making question for the first time. This launched a new field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as people’s insatiable curiosity about computers and intelligence.

Human civilization has now entered a new era of intelligence. As computing has grown more pervasive, society and every one of us are deeply embedded in the network of universal computing and reap the benefits of intelligent computing. Significant scientific discoveries and applications based on intelligent computing have emerged in many important areas, such as the solution of protein folding difficulties, the discovery of new antibiotics, and medical imaging diagnostics utilizing AI, thanks to the deep integration of machine intelligence, data, and computing methodologies. The advancement of civilization has been greatly aided by intelligent computing, and at the same time, the demand for computing is skyrocketing.

A number of difficult issues need to be resolved in order to meet the constantly increasing demand for computing. Computational speed is limited by the traditional von Neumann architecture, computational methods are challenged by big data, the computational power supply is limited by energy consumption, and computing resource use is limited by access technology… There are still many issues that need to be explored and solved, meanwhile, sustainable solutions must be found for the future.

The Zhejiang Lab and Science have jointly solicited fundamental scientific questions with a significant guiding role for the future research of intelligent computing. After a series of solicitations, shortlisting, and evaluations, 10 questions found to be most profound and challenging were put forward by a panel of experts from around the world.

1. How do we define intelligence and establish the evaluation and standardization framework for intelligent computing?
2. Is there a unified theory for analog computing?
3. Where will the major innovations in computing come from, and will quantum computing approach the computational power of the human brain?
4. What new devices will be built (transistors, chip design, and hardware paradigms: photonics, spintronics, biomolecules, carbon nanotubes)?
5. How could intelligent computing enable intelligent machines?
6. How can we understand the storage and retrieval of memory based on the digital twin brain?
7. What is the most efficient path to converge silicon-based and carbon-based learning?
8. How to build interpretable and efficient AI algorithms?
9. Can strong intelligent computing with features of self-learning, evolvability, and self-reflection be realized?
10. How can we use real-world data to discover and generalize knowledge?

The 10 fundamental scientific questions in the field of intelligent computing are presented here in the hope that they will enlighten researchers globally. It is expected that scholars and researchers will engage in lively discussions on these 10 scientific questions, jointly promote potential breakthroughs within the questions and technological advances, and contribute to the development of human society.

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