科学发现作为元优化:一个组合优化案例研究 / Scientific discovery as meta-optimization: a combinatorial optimization case study
1️⃣ 一句话总结
本文提出将科学发现视为一种“元优化”过程,即不仅优化理论和实验,还同时优化评估标准本身,并通过一种名为“共识目标聚合”的方法让AI自动生成和融合评价函数,从而在解决复杂组合优化问题(如3-SAT)时大幅提升效率,实现了最高67倍的加速。
Scientific discovery is fundamentally an optimization problem, defined by a vast "state space" of theories and experiments, and an evaluation criterion based on quality, novelty, and validity. Large language models (LLMs) have enabled automated exploration of this space, but we argue that simultaneous modification of the evaluation criteria is equally important. Here, we propose formalizing research as meta-optimization, where the optimization objective itself is also being optimized. Our key contribution is "consensus objective aggregation," where LLM-generated objective functions are combined via correlation-weighted voting, yielding a stable, self-correcting evaluation criterion that evolves as understanding deepens. We apply this framework to algorithm discovery for 3-SAT problems based on digital MemComputing machines, reducing the baseline scaling with problem size $N$ from $\sim N^{2.51}$ to $\sim N^{1.33}$ and delivering a $\sim 67\times$ speedup on the largest instances tested. As a problem-agnostic framework, we hope this approach will considerably aid scientific discovery.
科学发现作为元优化:一个组合优化案例研究 / Scientific discovery as meta-optimization: a combinatorial optimization case study
本文提出将科学发现视为一种“元优化”过程,即不仅优化理论和实验,还同时优化评估标准本身,并通过一种名为“共识目标聚合”的方法让AI自动生成和融合评价函数,从而在解决复杂组合优化问题(如3-SAT)时大幅提升效率,实现了最高67倍的加速。
源自 arXiv: 2606.26728