What if Generative AI can generate biology? | Geoff von Maltzahn | TEDxMIT

Over the course of human medicine, new advances have arisen through two processes: Discovery and Engineering. With the rise of generative AI, many new biotechnologies will arise through another word: Generate.

Billions of years of Nature's discoveries have created the living world around us and an extraordinary diversity of protein molecules, which serve as the engines of life and a large portion of modern medicines. Despite the immensity of protein diversity in biology, Nature and medicine have only had the opportunity to sample a minuscule fraction of the vast expanses of possible proteins.

Inspired generative AI advances in images and language several years ago, we asked "What if ... we can generate biology?"

Our results in generating antibodies, proteins, and peptides hint at a new era of Generative Biology to come, where generative AI and machine intelligence help us understand the language of DNA, the functions it encodes for the bounty of protein machines and medicines, and the secrets to creating extraordinary new medicines. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx