Fundamental Sciences: The Bedrock of the AI Revolution

At the 2025 Beijing Forum co-sponsored by Peking University, Beijing Municipal Education Commission, and the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, National University of Singapore President Tan Eng Chye traced the origins of artificial intelligence back to the 1950s, noting its journey through multiple "AI winters" where progress stalled and skepticism prevailed. He emphasizes that the current transformative power of AI is driven by a convergence of three key factors: accessible supercomputing, refined algorithms, and vast amounts of open data. President Tan concludes that this powerful synergy, and all of AI's progress, remains fundamentally dependent on breakthroughs in fundamental sciences.