Microsoft Research has introduced a powerful new AI system today that generates novel materials with specific desired properties, potentially accelerating the development of better batteries, more efficient solar cells and other critical technologies. The system, called MatterGen, represents a fundamental shift in how scientists discover new materials. Rather than screening millions of existing compounds — the traditional approach that can take years — MatterGen directly generates novel materials based on desired characteristics, similar to how AI image generators create pictures from text descriptions. “Generative models provide a new paradigm for materials design by directly generating entirely novel materials given desired property constraints,” said Tian Xie, principal research manager at Microsoft Research and lead author of the study published today in Nature. “This represents a major advancement towards creating a universal generative model for materials design.”

Full story : Microsoft just built an AI that designs materials for the future: Here’s how it works.