AI: The new lab partner scientists didn't know they needed

Quick Hits

Hello DALL-E 3: OpenAI unveils latest art tool.

Swift glitch: Taylor Swift fans break Google.

Seed slam: Shaq invests in an AI edtech startup.

ER bots: Oracle introduces voice-activated AI to hospitals.

AI inbox: Google Bard can now tap directly into Gmail and Docs.

Coded rebellion: GitHub Copilot creator starts new AI company.

Crispr air: Crispr pioneer takes on climate change, asthma.

Muskonomics: X threatens to charge all users.

IPO ‘revival’: Instacart raises $660 million in its IPO.

AI pushes science ‘beyond nature’

AI is supercharging synthetic biology, enabling scientists to program cells and create new proteins like a coder writes software. The revolution touches fields from medicine and agriculture to energy and climate research. “It enables us to go beyond what nature has provided us,” says a founder of a synthetic biology startup.

MIT, Meta unlock cell mysteries with AI

Researchers from across the world, including MIT’s San Francisco Biohub, are using AI to create an open-source Human Cell Atlas. Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation will deploy one of the world's largest AI clusters for nonprofit scientific research to create “virtual cells” that simulate different conditions.

DeepMind cracks code on genetic mutations

Google DeepMind developed an AI program called AlphaMissense that predicts the potential harm of so-called missense mutations, where a single DNA letter is altered. Leveraging data from 71M single-letter mutations affecting human proteins, the tool uses machine learning to “understand” the language of proteins, helping it score the risk level of genetic changes.

Entering the age of LLM consultants

AI startups are adopting a mix-and-match approach to large-language models (LLMs). Plenty of competitors to OpenAI's GPT-4 are popping up from tech companies like Hugging Face and Anthropic. Upstarts like Martian are emerging to help advise companies on which ones to use.

AI safety pioneer wins top innovator honor

Sharon Li, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was named MIT Technology Review's 2023 Innovator of the Year. Li is a pioneer in AI safety, specifically out-of-distribution (OOD) detection, which helps AI systems identify when they are faced with unfamiliar scenarios.

Accelerating fusion energy research

The U.S. Department of Energy is funding a project led by MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center to accelerate fusion energy research. The three-year collaboration aims to integrate fusion data with AI tools and increase workforce diversity.

Block and roll: Germany’s crypto sector makes gains

Germany’s blockchain sector bucks global trends with a 3% YoY funding increase, outperforming a worldwide downturn. Berlin stands out as Germany's blockchain hub as Europe increases its slice of the global blockchain venture funding pie.

The Weekly Pulse

Survey: ‘AI anxiety’ is real, concerning

Workers are voicing concerns about how AI and other emerging tech will impact their jobs in the future. Nearly 4 out of 10 U.S. workers (38%) are worried AI may make some, or all, of their job duties obsolete in the future, according to the American Psychological Association’s 2023 Work in America survey.

Poll of the Week

Recently Funded

• Palo Alto-based SambaNova Systems unveiled the SN40L chip, aimed at running AI models over twice the size of advanced OpenAI's ChatGPT, to offer higher-quality AI at a lower cost.
• San Francisco-based Writer, an enterprise-focused generative AI platform, raised a $100M Series B led by ICONIQ Growth with participation from Accenture.
• San Francisco-based Galileo, founded by former Google employees, launched new monitoring features for its LLM Studio and secured $18M in funding round to advance data intelligence in AI.
• Tel Aviv-based qbiq, a generative AI platform for space planning, raised a $10M seed round led by JLL Spark Global Ventures to expand its U.S. presence.
• Boulder, CO-based BioLoomics, a biotech specializing in robotics and machine learning, raised a $9M seed fund led by Innovation Endeavors.
• Berwyn, PA-based Mural Health Technologies, a clinical trial management platform, raised an $8M seed fund led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
• NYC-based HealNow, an online checkout platform for pharmacies, raised a $5.5M seed round led by Bonfire Ventures.

Post of the Week

What We’re Reading

• What an AI-Generated Medieval Village Means for the Future of Art (Wired)
• 'Dr. Google' meets its match in Dr. ChatGPT (NPR)
• There’s an Alternative to the Infinite Scroll (Wired)
• AI can now create images out of thin air. (WashPo)
• The Rise of Startups That Help Other Startups Evaluate LLMs (The Information)

Podcast of the Week

Communication, Jobs, Remote Work: Staying Connected (What The Tech)

?Startups Hiring Now

The RealReal: Marketplace for authenticated, consigned luxury goods | 99 open roles

Mendel.ai: Structure and redact medical records | 11 open roles

Ambience Healthcare: Building a suite of AI-powered tools for doctors | 11 open roles

Help us spread the word: we'll pay you $200?for every friend you get hired through Wellfound!