Zuckerberg teams up with Hassabis: $1.8 billion to tackle 'virtual cells'

Beating AI News Flash: Biohub, the biomedical research institute founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, announced the expansion of the "Virtual Biology Initiative" (VBI). Google DeepMind, Meta, and Isomorphic Labs have joined the collaboration, with the total scale of funding, data, and research resources invested by all parties reaching $1.8 billion. Isomorphic Labs is the AI pharmaceutical company founded by Hassabis.

The initiative aims to enable AI to learn to predict the behavior of living cells. For example, if a drug is applied to a cell, AI can predict what changes will occur. Researchers will then be able to test on computers first before deciding which experiments are worth conducting in the lab, thereby accelerating new drug development.

The biggest challenge at present is the lack of training data. Biohub stated that existing large datasets contain records of only hundreds of millions of cells, while accurate predictive models may require billions or even trillions. The team expects to produce the first batch of data in about a year and aims to develop a reliable predictive model within five years.

Google DeepMind, Meta, and Isomorphic Labs have invested a combined $300 million. The U.S. Department of Energy plans to invest more than $500 million over five years, while the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is providing data resources accumulated from previous investments exceeding $500 million.

These data will eventually be made available to researchers worldwide. However, commercial funders may have exclusive access to data generated with their own funding for one year before it is opened to the public. Government-funded data is not subject to this restriction.