Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Bets AI Will Shake Up Scientific Research

(Bloomberg) -- Eric Schmidt is funding a nonprofit that's focused on building an artificial intelligence-powered assistant for the laboratory, with the lofty goal of overhauling the scientific research process, according to interviews with the former Google CEO and officials at the new venture. 

The nonprofit, Future House, plans to develop AI tools that can analyze and summarize research papers as well as respond to scientific questions using large language models — the same technology that supports popular AI chatbots. But Future House also intends to go a step further.

The “AI scientist,” as Future House refers to it, will one day be able to sift through thousands of scientific papers and independently compose hypotheses at greater speed and scale than humans, Chief Executive Officer Sam Rodriques said on the latest episode of the Bloomberg Originals series AI IRL​​​​​​, his most extensive comments to date on the company.

A growing number of businesses and investors are focusing on AI's potential applications in science, including uncovering new medicines and therapies. While Future House aims to make breakthroughs of its own, it believes the scientific process itself can be transformed by having AI generate a hypothesis, conduct experiments and reach conclusions — even though some existing AI tools have been prone to errors and bias.

Rodriques acknowledged the risks of AI being applied in science. "It's not just inaccuracy that you need to worry about,” he said. There are also concerns that “people can use them to come up with weapons and things like that.” Future House will "have an obligation" to make sure there's safeguards in place,” he added.

In an interview, Schmidt said early-stage scientific research “is not moving fast enough today.” Schmidt helped shape the idea behind Future House and was inspired by his time at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, which developed ethernet, laser printing and other innovations. 

“It was a place where you got these people in their late 20s and early 30s, gave them independence and all the resources they needed, and they would invent things at a pace that you didn't get anywhere else,” Schmidt said. “What I really want is to create new environments like what PARC used to be, where outstanding young researchers can pursue their best ideas.” 

Schmidt has an estimated net worth of $24.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He's funneled some of that fortune into philanthropic efforts like Schmidt Futures, an initiative that funds science and technology entrepreneurs. In recent months, he's emerged as an influential voice on AI policy in Washington. 

Rodriques, a biotechnology inventor who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Schmidt will fund Future House for its first five years. He estimated that the non-profit will spend about $20 million by the end of 2024. After that, “it will depend on how we grow and what we need,” he said, adding that a substantial portion of that cash will go to hiring talent and setting up what's called a “wet” laboratory, a space designed to test chemicals and other biological matter. While Schmidt is providing most of the upfront capital, Future House is also in talks with other philanthropic backers, Rodriques said. 

“The key thing about Future House is that we are getting together this biology talent and this AI talent in a way that you don't get in other places,” Schmidt said.

One of the first hires is Andrew White, the nonprofit's head of science, who was most recently an associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Rochester. “I think most scientists probably read five papers a week. Imagine what's going to happen when you have systems that can process all 10,000 papers that are coming out every day,” White said. “In some fields, the limiting factor is not the equipment. It's not really the cost. It's the ability of humans to come up with the next experiment.” 

Future House will start with biology but its system will eventually be applicable to other scientific fields, White said.

With his financial backing, Schmidt believes Future House will be able to prioritize research rather than racing to make money. “I think getting the incentives right is especially important right now, when there's a very high expectation that progress in AI will lead to products in the short term, which is leading a lot of the big AI research centers to focus very much on commercialization over research,” Schmidt said. 

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