"New Material Found by AI Could Reduce Lithium Use in Batteries"

Security researchers at Microsoft and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have used artificial intelligence (AI) and supercomputing to discover a brand new substance which could reduce lithium use in batteries.  The researchers say that the material could potentially reduce lithium use by up to 70%.  Since its discovery, the new material has been used to power a lightbulb.  Microsoft researchers used AI and supercomputers to narrow down 32 million potential inorganic materials to 18 promising candidates in less than a week, a screening process that could have taken more than two decades to carry out using traditional lab research methods.  The process from inception to the development of a working battery prototype took less than nine months.  The researchers noted that they achieved this by using advanced AI and high-performance computing, which combines large numbers of computers to solve complex scientific and mathematical tasks.  Executive Vice President of Microsoft, Jason Zander, stated that one of Microsoft's missions was to "compress 250 years of scientific discovery into the next 25".

BBC reports: "New Material Found by AI Could Reduce Lithium Use in Batteries"