Virtual lab powered by ‘AI scientists’ super-charges biomedical research

Researchers have created a virtual laboratory staffed by ‘AI scientists’ — large language models (LLMs) with defined scientific roles — that collaborate to achieve goals set by people. The team trained one LLM to be the work’s principal investigator (PI) and a second to act as a ‘scientific critic’. The ‘PI’ then trained three further LLMs to support the research efforts. Each worked independently, but the group came together for short ‘team meetings’ overseen by a human. When tasked with designing antibody fragments that can bind to the virus that causes COVID-19, the AI team proposed 92 structures in a fraction of the time it would have taken an all-human research group.