This week’s covers

This week we had two covers: one on how artificial intelligence can revolutionise science, and the other on the real threat from Europe’s hard right.

First, artificial intelligence (AI), which we put on the cover of our American and Asian editions. Much of the debate around AI tends to focus on its potential dangers, such as algorithmic bias, job losses and even, some say, the extinction of humanity. This week we decided to look at the other, more optimistic, side of the coin: the possibility that AI could help humanity solve some of its biggest and thorniest problems, by radically accelerating the pace of scientific discovery, and in particular in medicine, climate science and green technology. Such a change has historical precedents. There have been several periods in history, notably in the 17th century, when new approaches and new tools led to bursts of world-changing scientific discovery and innovation.