"Though artificial intelligence systems have posted high scores in math, physics and computer science, biology is harder to measure, says Joy Jiao, who leads life sciences research at OpenAI. For something like design the optimal experiment,' there's no right answer. It's what we call a hard-hard problem: it's hard to generate a solution, and it's also really hard to verify."
"While OpenAI's GPT-5 provided the experimental designs, Ginkgo Bioworks provided what its co-founder and CEO Jason Kelly calls the Waymo of biology: an automated lab system where researchers set objective and the AI does the driving. The autonomous robotic lab can rapidly process experiments and operate without constant human oversight."
"The team focused its experiment on cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS), a technique for producing proteins without living cells. CFPS makes proteins outside of cells by running the cell's own protein-making machinery in a controlled mixture. It is one of the fastest ways to make proteins, says Reshma Shetty, chief operating officer and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks."
OpenAI and Ginkgo Bioworks collaborated to test whether AI can conduct science beyond summarization and prediction. They focused on cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS), a technique producing proteins outside living cells without genetic modification. GPT-5 designed experiments using superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP), a jellyfish protein benchmark providing clear visual signals. Ginkgo Bioworks provided an autonomous robotic laboratory system capable of executing experiments without constant human oversight. Biology presents unique challenges for AI evaluation because optimal experimental design lacks definitive correct answers, making verification difficult. The autonomous lab system rapidly processed experiments, allowing AI to generate hypotheses, design protocols, interpret results, and iterate—demonstrating capabilities beyond traditional AI applications in mathematics and physics.
#ai-in-scientific-research #autonomous-laboratory-systems #protein-synthesis #experimental-design-automation #gpt-capabilities
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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