It's a new technology and they used it to make scientific breakthroughs in many different fields? I guess you could read this comic as not being anti-ai but it definitely reads like it to me.
And you can tell they used the AI to solve some physics shit. Like, that probably took a lot of data management and setting up the models and what not - but the prize is for PROGRESSING the field of physics.
... it's not for like, how good you know physics, there's not like an exam and then some guy "knows physics the best"
As the guy above you mentioned, the prize is for progressing the field of physics, biology, math etc. not for knowing the field the best. They used an unrelated technology to advance those fields in a novel and significant way.