A new editor’s note in Nature highlights concerns about a paper by Google researchers who claimed computer chips designed in just a few hours using artificial intelligence beat chip plans that human experts took months to develop.
In the note, published September 20, the journal stated: "Readers are alerted that the performance claims in this article have been called into question." The day after the editor’s note, Nature pulled an accompanying News & Views article extolling Google’s results. According to the retraction notice, the article’s author, Andrew B. Kahng of the University of California, San Diego, who was also a reviewer of the internet company’s research, had changed his assessment of the work following publication.
Google’s paper, "A graph placement methodology for fast chip design," has been embroiled in controversy since it was published in 2021. It has been cited well over 100 times, but critics argue the article didn’t include enough detail to allow others to vet the findings. What’s more, a Google researcher who was fired after he questioned the paper in Nature alleged in a lawsuit earlier this year that the tech giant’s "fraudulent" claims to have revolutionized chip layout using AI were tied to efforts to commercialize its software.
More: https://retractionwatch.com/2023/09/26/nature-flags-doubts-over-google-ai-study-pulls-commentary/
