Virtual Cell Models, Tahoe-100 and Data for AI-in-Bio with Vevo Therapeutics and the Arc Institute

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

Download the Tahoe Dataset

19:15

Can AI compress the years long research time of a PhD into seconds? Research scientist Max Jaderberg explores how “AI analogs” simulate real-world lab work with staggering speed and scale, unlocking new insights on protein folding and drug discovery. Drawing on his experience working on Isomorphic Labs' and Google DeepMind's AlphaFold 3 — an AI model for predicting the structure of molecules — Jaderberg explains how this new technology frees up researchers' time and resources to better understand the real, messy world and tackle the next frontiers of science, medicine and more. For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch . Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links: TEDNext: ted.com/futureyou TEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-vienna Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

about a year ago 57:40

MP3•Episode home

On this week’s episode of No Priors, Sarah Guo is joined by leading members of the teams at Vevo Therapeutics and the Arc Institute – Nima Alidoust, CEO/Co-Founder at Vevo Therapeutics; Johnny Yu, CSO/Co-Founder at Vevo Therapeutics; Patrick Hsu, CEO/Co-Founder at Arc Institute; Dave Burke, CTO at Arc Institute; and Hani Goodarzi, Core Investigator at Arc Institute. Predicting protein structure (AlphaFold 3, Chai-1, Evo 2) was a big AI/biology breakthrough. The next big leap is modeling entire human cells—how they behave in disease, or how they respond to new therapeutics. The same way LLMs needed enormous text corpora to become truly powerful, Virtual Cell Models need massive, high-quality cellular datasets to train on. In this episode, the teams discuss the groundbreaking release of the Tahoe-100M single cell dataset, Arc Atlas, and how these advancements could transform drug discovery.

Show Notes:

0:00 Introduction

1:40 Significance of Tahoe-100M dataset

4:22 Where we are with virtual cell models and protein language models

10:26 Significance of perturbational data

17:39 Challenges and innovations in data collection

24:42 Open sourcing and community collaboration

33:51 Predictive ability and importance of virtual cell models

35:27 Drug discovery and virtual cell models

44:27 Platform vs. single hypothesis companies

46:05 Rise of Chinese biotechs

51:36 AI in drug discovery

124 episodes

#Science #Tech #Entrepreneur #Business #Convicted #Pod People

Virtual Cell Models, Tahoe-100 and Data for AI-in-Bio with Vevo Therapeutics and the Arc Institute

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

83 subscribers

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

Download the Tahoe Dataset

Show Notes:

0:00 Introduction

1:40 Significance of Tahoe-100M dataset

4:22 Where we are with virtual cell models and protein language models

10:26 Significance of perturbational data

17:39 Challenges and innovations in data collection

24:42 Open sourcing and community collaboration

33:51 Predictive ability and importance of virtual cell models

35:27 Drug discovery and virtual cell models

44:27 Platform vs. single hypothesis companies

46:05 Rise of Chinese biotechs

51:36 AI in drug discovery

124 episodes

#Science #Tech #Entrepreneur #Business #Convicted #Pod People

All episodes

1
Asimov: Building An Omniscient RL Oracle with ReflectionAI’s Misha Laskin 1:02:54

6 days ago1:02:54

1:02:54

Superintelligence, at least in an academic sense, has already been achieved. But Misha Laskin thinks that the next step towards artificial superintelligence, or ASI, should look both more user and problem-focused. ReflectionAI co-founder and CEO Misha Laskin joins Sarah Guo to introduce Asimov, their new code comprehension agent built on reinforcement learning (RL). Misha talks about creating tools and designing AI agents based on customer needs, and how that influences eval development and the scope of the agent’s memory. The two also discuss the challenges in solving scaling for RL, the future of ASI, and the implications for Google’s “non-acquisition” of Windsurf. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @MishaLaskin | @reflection_ai Chapters: 00:00 – Misha Laskin Introduction 00:44 – Superintelligence vs. Super Intelligent Autonomous Systems 03:26 – Misha’s Journey from Physics to AI 07:48 – Asimov Product Release 11:52 – What Differentiates Asimov from Other Agents 16:15 – Asimov’s Eval Philosophy 21:52 – The Types of Queries Where Asimov Shines 24:35 – Designing a Team-Wide Memory for Asimov 28:38 – Leveraging Pre-Trained Models 32:47 – The Challenges of Solving Scaling in RL 37:21 – Training Agents in Copycat Software Environments 38:25 – When Will We See ASI? 44:27 – Thoughts on Windsurf’s Non-Acquisition 48:10 – Exploring Non-RL Datasets 55:12 – Tackling Problems Beyond Engineering and Coding 57:54 – Where We’re At in Deploying ASI in Different Fields 01:02:30 – Conclusion…

1
Why Platforms Win and Point Solutions Fail with Rippling CEO Parker Conrad 44:43

13 days ago44:43

44:43

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1
Chai-2: The AI Model Accelerating Drug Discovery with Chai Discovery Co-Founders Jack Dent and Joshua Meier 49:27

20 days ago49:27

49:27

AI has already fueled breakthroughs in biotechnology—but now, further advances in AI are poised to fuel pharmaceutical discoveries as well. Sarah Guo sits down with Joshua Meier and Jack Dent, co-founders of Chai Discovery, whose newly launched Chai-2 designs bespoke antibodies that bind to their targets at a jaw-dropping 20% rate. Jack and Joshua talk about the implications for Chai-2’s success rate at discovering antibodies for the pharmaceutical industry, how structure prediction is pivotal in making the model work, and future potential for using the model to optimize other molecular properties. Plus, they talk about what they believe bioscientists should be learning to best utilize Chai-2’s technology. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @_jackdent | @joshim5 Chapters: 00:00 – Joshua Meier and Jack Dent Introduction 01:09 – Genesis of Chai Discovery 06:12 – Chai-2 Model 10:13 – Criteria for Specifying Targets for Chai-2 13:12 – How the Chai-2 Model Works 16:12 – Emergent Vocabulary from Chai-2 18:15 – Hopes for Chai-2’s Impact 20:33 – Reception of the Chai-2 Model 22:16 – Future of Wet Lab Screening and Biotech 27:08 – Optimizing Other Molecule Properties 31:37 – Where Chai Invests From Here 36:20 – What Bioscientists Should Learn for Chai-2 40:23 – How Jack and Josh Oriented to the Biotech Space 43:38 – Platform Investment and Chai-2 46:53 – Scaling Chai Discovery 48:21 – Hiring at Chai Discovery 49:09 – Conclusion…

1
Meet AlphaEvolve: The Autonomous Agent That Discovers Algorithms Better Than Humans With Google DeepMind’s Pushmeet Kohli and Matej Balog 42:08

27 days ago42:08

42:08

Much of the scientific process involves searching. But rather than continue to rely on the luck of discovery, Google DeepMind has engineered a more efficient AI agent that mines complex spaces to facilitate scientific breakthroughs. Sarah Guo speaks with Pushmeet Kohli, VP of Science and Strategic Initiatives, and research scientist Matej Balog at Google DeepMind about AlphaEvolve, an autonomous coding agent they developed that finds new algorithms through evolutionary search. Pushmeet and Matej talk about how AlphaEvolve tackles the problem of matrix multiplication efficiency, scaling and iteration in problem solving, and whether or not this means we are at self-improving AI. Together, they also explore the implications AlphaEvolve has to other sciences beyond mathematics and computer science. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @pushmeet | @matejbalog Chapters: 00:00 Pushmeet Kohli and Matej Balog Introduction 0:48 Origin of AlphaEvolve 02:31 AlphaEvolve’s Progression from AlphaGo and AlphaTensor 08:02 The Open Problem of Matrix Multiplication Efficiency 11:18 How AlphaEvolve Evolves Code 14:43 Scaling and Predicting Iterations 16:52 Implications for Coding Agents 19:42 Overcoming Limits of Automated Evaluators 25:21 Are We At Self-Improving AI? 28:10 Effects on Scientific Discovery and Mathematics 31:50 Role of Human Scientists with AlphaEvolve 38:30 Making AlphaEvolve Broadly Accessible 40:18 Applying AlphaEvolve Within Google 41:39 Conclusion…

1
The Operating System for Self Driving Cars (and Tanks, and Trucks...) With Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig of Applied Intuition 45:21

5 weeks ago45:21

45:21

When will fully autonomous vehicles see widespread adoption? According to Applied Intuition, that future is closer than you may think. Applied Intuition’s CEO, Qasar Younis, and CTO, Peter Ludwig, talk with Elad Gil about how now is the best time to both work on self-driving vehicle technology and monetize it. Qasar and Peter discuss the advantages of developing their own OS in-house for their autonomous applications, self-driving technology’s potential to drive re-shoring of vehicle manufacturing to the United States, and how best to gauge the bar for safety in autonomous systems. Plus, they explore how self-driving technology may reshape the designs of not only vehicles, but cities themselves. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @qasar | @AppliedInt Chapters: 00:00 Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig Introduction 01:28 A Primer on Applied Intuition 11:08 Applied Intuition’s Customers 12:04 Impact of Chinese Vehicles Manufacturers 15:44 EV Policies in the European Market 20:49 Can Robotics and Automation Re-Shore Vehicle Manufacturing? 21:53 Training Models for Autonomous Vehicles 26:41 Gauging the Bar for Autonomous Vehicles Safety 32:03 Timeline for Large-Scale Autonomous Vehicle Adoption 36:28 Rethinking Urban Design for Autonomous Vehicles 38:47 How Applied Intuition Uses AI for Tooling and OS 42:09 Designing for User Experience 43:31 Applied Intuition’s Hiring Strategy 45:01 Conclusion…

1
Will we have Superintelligence by 2028? With Anthropic’s Ben Mann 41:25

6 weeks ago41:25

41:25

What happens when you give AI researchers unlimited compute and tell them to compete for the highest usage rates? Ben Mann, Co-Founder, from Anthropic sits down with Sarah Guo and Elad Gil to explain how Claude 4 went from "reward hacking" to efficiently completing tasks and how they're racing to solve AI safety before deploying computer-controlling agents. Ben talks about economic Turing tests, the future of general versus specialized AI models, Reinforcement Learning From AI Feedback (RLAIF), and Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP). Plus, Ben shares his thoughts on if we will have Superintelligence by 2028. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @8enmann Links: ai-2027.com/ Chapters: 00:00 Ben Mann Introduction 00:33 Releasing Claude 4 02:05 Claude 4 Highlights and Improvements 03:42 Advanced Use Cases and Capabilities 06:42 Specialization and Future of AI Models 09:35 Anthropic's Approach to Model Development 18:08 Human Feedback and AI Self-Improvement 19:15 Principles and Correctness in Model Training 20:58 Challenges in Measuring Correctness 21:42 Human Feedback and Preference Models 23:38 Empiricism and Real-World Applications 27:02 AI Safety and Ethical Considerations 28:13 AI Alignment and High-Risk Research 30:01 Responsible Scaling and Safety Policies 35:08 Future of AI and Emerging Behaviors 38:35 Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Industry Standards 41:00 Conclusion…

1
Teaching AI to Understand the Physical World, with Dr. Fei-Fei Li of World Labs 35:53

7 weeks ago35:53

35:53

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1
AI Consolidation, Biotech Opportunities, and World Models with Sarah and Elad 25:13

8 weeks ago25:13

25:13

In this episode of No Priors , Sarah and Elad unpack the current state of the AI market - whether it’s consolidating, what’s enabling or blocking key mergers, and where the most promising untapped opportunities lie, particularly in biotech. They also explore the rise of world models and how AI’s novel methods for understanding complex systems may ultimately reshape how humans approach discovery and problem-solving. Show Notes: 0:00 Is the AI market consolidating into clear winners? + the physics of the current landscape 7:01 Why more companies don’t merge (even when it makes sense) 10:09 Exploring biotech’s biggest commercial opportunities and the challenges founders face 17:14 Building world models 21:34 How AI is expanding the way humans reason, design, and evolve systems…

1
AI is Making Enterprise Search Relevant, with Arvind Jain of Glean 31:34

10 weeks ago31:34

31:34

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1
Gaming as the Future of Education with Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn 32:14

11 weeks ago32:14

32:14

On this episode of No Priors, Sarah talks to Luis von Ahn, founder and CEO of Duolingo, the world’s most popular education app with over 116 million monthly users and a market cap of approximately $17 billion. Controversially, it has recently committed to being “AI-first.” They discuss why motivation is the biggest challenge in education, how Duolingo harnesses game mechanics and behavioral insights to keep learners engaged, and the company’s efforts to leverage AI to personalize education at scale. Luis also shares thoughts on the Duolingo brand, courses beyond language (chess and math), and the broader impact of AI on content creation. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @LuisvonAhn Links: Duolingo is now AI-First: http://bit.ly/3RQzny3 Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 4:01 Optimizing learning behavior through tech 11:20 Adopting AI at Duolingo 17:25 AI’s threat to content companies 18:34 An unhinged corporate brand 21:28 How do people learn? 25:16 What people misunderstand about Duolingo? 26:24 How AI is transforming learning at scale 30:28 Leveraging AI across the business…

1
O3 and the Next Leap in Reasoning with OpenAI’s Eric Mitchell and Brandon McKinzie 39:13

12 weeks ago39:13

39:13

This week on No Priors , Elad and Sarah sit down with Eric Mitchell and Brandon McKinzie, two of the minds behind OpenAI’s O3 model. They discuss what makes O3 unique, including its focus on reasoning, the role of reinforcement learning, and how tool use enables more powerful interactions. The conversation explores the unification of model capabilities, what the next generation of human-AI interfaces could look like, and how models will continue to advance in the years ahead. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @mckbrando | @ericmitchellai Show Notes: 0:00 What is o3? 3:21 Reinforcement learning in o3 4:44 Unification of models 8:56 Why tool use helps test time scaling 11:10 Deep research 16:00 Future ways to interact with models 22:03 General purpose vs specialized models 25:30 Simulating AI interacting with the world 29:36 How will models advance?…

1
Inside Deep Research with Isa Fulford: Building the Future of AI Agents 30:45

13 weeks ago30:45

30:45

On this episode of No Priors, Sarah sits down with Isa Fulford, one of the masterminds behind deep research. They unpack how the initiative began, the role of human expert data, and what it takes to build agents with real-world capability and even taste. Isa shares the differences between deep research and OpenAI’s o3 model, the challenges around latency, and how she sees agent capabilities evolving. Plus, OpenAI has announced that deep research is free for all US users starting today. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @IsaFulf Show Notes: 0:00 Deep research’s inception & evolution 6:12 Data creation 7:20 Reinforcement fine-tuning 9:05 Why human expert data matters 11:23 Failure modes of agents 13:55 The roadmap ahead for Deep Research 18:32 How do agents develop taste? 19:29 Experience and path to building a broadly capable agent 22:03 Deep research vs. o3 25:55 Latency 27:56 Predictions for agent capabilities…

1
Predicting the Earth with Josh Goldman: How KoBold Uses AI to Find Critical Minerals 40:53

14 weeks ago40:53

40:53

This week on No Priors, Sarah and Elad are joined by Josh Goldman, cofounder and president of KoBold Metals. KoBold is using AI to transform how we discover critical minerals like lithium and cobalt, making the exploration process faster, more precise, and more scalable than traditional methods. In this episode, Josh explains how KoBold is rethinking the fundamentals of mineral exploration by combining unique datasets, scientific modeling, and predictive algorithms. They dive into the company’s driving philosophy and technical approach, how they validate underground hypotheses, and why regulatory knowledge and a localized approach are crucial. Josh also discusses what success looks like in exploration today and the scarcity of world-class deposits. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @KoBold_Metals Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:29 KoBold Metals 3:14 Using unique datasets 6:20 Traditional methods of lithium exploration 8:38 Regulatory vs. rarity constraints 13:40 Technical approach 16:25 Validating hypotheses 23:56 Redefining success in mineral exploration 25:44 Scarcity of good projects and deposits 32:44 Philosophy behind prediction 36:46 KoBold’s origin story…

1
From Job Displacement to AI Trainers, Brendan Foody on Work in the AI Age 41:52

15 weeks ago41:52

41:52

On this episode of No Priors , Sarah and Elad sit down with Brendan Foody, CEO and cofounder of Mercor, to discuss the company’s rapid growth and their vision for the future of the labor market. They dive into how AI is reshaping the workforce in real, tangible ways and what skills are worth investing in today. Brendan shares insights on evaluating talent in an AI-driven world, including how models might identify outlier or 10x candidates and even assess “taste.” The conversation also touches on the evolving role of human data, the future of hiring in fast-scaling startups, and whether AI will act as an individual contributor or a data-centric manager. Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:16 Building Mercor 3:00 Identifying outlier talent with AI 9:07 How AI is reshaping the workforce: job displacement & evolution 11:18 What skills should we invest in now? 12:18 Verifiability 13:36 Evaluating models 16:07 What should kids learn today? 17:05 Evaluating taste in talent assessments 18:45 Future of data collection 26:07 Humans’ role in the AI economy 28:53 AI as a contributor vs. a manager 33:03 Mercor’s goals 34:50 Evolution of labor markets 36:00 Hiring advice…

1
Public Markets, Image Gen, and Specialized Models, with Sarah and Elad 27:44

16 weeks ago27:44

27:44

In this episode of No Priors, Sarah and Elad examine the current state of AI. They break down the recent dip in public markets, how tariffs could impact the tech industry, and where opportunities remain in large language models. They highlight the opportunities in more specialized models, new approaches to model development, and how the market is beginning to standardize with integrations like the Model Context Protocol (MCP). The episode ends with a look at early consumer AI applications and what types of expertise will matter most in the coming years. Show Notes: 0:00 Improvements in image gen 4:42 Public markets 8:08 Effects of tariffs on tech 9:42 Today’s large model market 11:34 Opportunities in specialized models 16:30 Research advances in model approaches 21:10 What expertise will matter? 24:30 Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol 26:30 Consumer applications…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
Conversations Are the Source of Truth in Healthcare with Abridge CEO Shiv Rao 38:42

17 weeks ago38:42

38:42

In this episode of No Priors , Elad and Sarah chat with Shiv Rao, MD, founder and CEO of Abridge. They dive into how Abridge is reshaping healthcare by creating AI tools that enhance clinical documentation and improve doctor-patient interactions. Shiv shares his thoughts on building trust with established healthcare systems, giving agency and time back to clinicians, and what makes the healthcare AI opportunity different today. They also discuss Abridge’s approach to developing and launching AI products, along with Shiv’s journey in founding Abridge. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @ShivdevRao Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:35 Abridge’s Story and Vision 5:30 Strategy for Customer Choice 7:41 Healthcare AI Opportunities 11:24 Navigating Incumbent Partnerships 14:26 Doctor-Centric AI Solutions 19:54 Abridge’s Future Plans 22:13 AI’s Impact on Healthcare 28:43 Shipping and Iterating Products 32:50 Shiv’s Journey to Abridge…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
The Robotics Revolution, with Physical Intelligence’s Cofounder Chelsea Finn 35:14

18 weeks ago35:14

35:14

This week on No Priors , Elad speaks with Chelsea Finn, cofounder of Physical Intelligence and currently Associate Professor at Stanford, leading the Intelligence through Learning and Interaction Lab. They dive into how robots learn, the challenges of training AI models for the physical world, and the importance of diverse data in reaching generalizable intelligence. Chelsea explains the evolving landscape of open-source vs. closed-source robotics and where AI models are likely to have the biggest impact first. They also compare the development of robotics to self-driving cars, explore the future of humanoid and non-humanoid robots, and discuss what’s still missing for AI to function effectively in the real world. If you’re curious about the next phase of AI beyond the digital space, this episode is a must-listen. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @ChelseaFinn Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:31 Chelsea’s background in robotics 3:10 Physical Intelligence 5:13 Defining their approach and model architecture 7:39 Reaching generalizability and diversifying robot data 9:46 Open source vs. closed source 12:32 Where will PI’s models integrate first? 14:34 Humanoid as a form factor 16:28 Embodied intelligence 17:36 Key turning points in robotics progress 20:05 Hierarchical interactive robot and decision-making 22:21 Choosing data inputs 26:25 Self driving vs robotics market 28:37 Advice to robotics founders 29:24 Observational data and data generation 31:57 Future robotic forms…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
Copilot, Agent Mode, and the New World of Dev Tools with GitHub’s CEO Thomas Dohmke 50:34

19 weeks ago50:34

50:34

This week on No Priors, Sarah and Elad talk with GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke about the rise of AI-powered software development and the success of Copilot. They discuss how Copilot is reshaping the developer workflow, GitHub’s new Agent Mode, and competition in the developer tooling market. They also explore how AI-driven coding impacts software pricing, the future of open source vs. proprietary APIs, and what Copilot’s success means for Microsoft. Plus, Thomas shares insights from his journey growing up in East Berlin and navigating rapidly changing worlds. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @ NoPriorsPod | @ Saranormous | @ EladGil | @ ThomasDohmke Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:37 GitHub Copilot’s capabilities 4:12 Will agents replace developers? 6:04 Copilot’s development cycle 8:34 Winning the developer market 10:40 Agent mode 13:25 Where GitHub is headed 16:45 Building for the new challenges of AI 21:50 Dev tools market formation 29:56 Copilot’s broader impact 32:17 How AI changes software pricing 39:16 Open source vs. proprietary APIs 48:01 Growing up in East Berlin…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
National Security Strategy and AI Evals on the Eve of Superintelligence with Dan Hendrycks 36:24

20 weeks ago36:24

36:24

This week on No Priors , Sarah is joined by Dan Hendrycks, director of the Center of AI Safety. Dan serves as an advisor to xAI and Scale AI. He is a longtime AI researcher, publisher of interesting AI evals such as "Humanity's Last Exam," and co-author of a new paper on National Security " Superintelligence Strategy " along with Scale founder-CEO Alex Wang and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. They explore AI safety, geopolitical implications, the potential weaponization of AI, along with policy recommendations. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @DanHendrycks Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:36 Dan’s path to focusing on AI Safety 1:25 Safety efforts in large labs 3:12 Distinguishing alignment and safety 4:48 AI’s impact on national security 9:59 How might AI be weaponized? 14:43 Immigration policies for AI talent 17:50 Mutually assured AI malfunction 22:54 Policy suggestions for current administration 25:34 Compute security 30:37 Current state of evals…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
Building the Platform for Scientific Breakthrough, with Noubar Afeyan of Moderna and Flagship Pioneering 40:32

21 weeks ago40:32

40:32

This week on No Priors , Sarah sits down with Noubar Afeyan, Co-founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, the biotech firm behind groundbreaking companies like Moderna. They explore how Flagship creates the conditions for scientific breakthroughs, tackles regulatory uncertainty, and pushes the boundaries of discovery. Noubar shares insights on AI’s role in healthcare, the challenges of bringing new therapies to market, and lessons learned from past pandemics. He also discusses Flagship’s platform approach to biotech innovation and introduces the idea of polyintelligence. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @NoubarAfeyan Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:48 Founding Flagship 5:51 Fostering environments for emergence 11:17 Expanding into new frontiers 14:26 Developing technology amid regulatory uncertainty and risk 19:12 How Flagship has evolved 22:47 AI applications in healthcare 27:30 Bottlenecks in bringing new therapies to market 32:20 Lessons for the next pandemic 34:11 Building a platform 38:10 Polyintelligence…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
Virtual Cell Models, Tahoe-100 and Data for AI-in-Bio with Vevo Therapeutics and the Arc Institute 57:40

21 weeks ago57:40

57:40

On this week’s episode of No Priors , Sarah Guo is joined by leading members of the teams at Vevo Therapeutics and the Arc Institute – Nima Alidoust, CEO/Co-Founder at Vevo Therapeutics; Johnny Yu, CSO/Co-Founder at Vevo Therapeutics; Patrick Hsu, CEO/Co-Founder at Arc Institute; Dave Burke, CTO at Arc Institute; and Hani Goodarzi, Core Investigator at Arc Institute. Predicting protein structure (AlphaFold 3, Chai-1, Evo 2) was a big AI/biology breakthrough. The next big leap is modeling entire human cells—how they behave in disease, or how they respond to new therapeutics. The same way LLMs needed enormous text corpora to become truly powerful, Virtual Cell Models need massive, high-quality cellular datasets to train on. In this episode, the teams discuss the groundbreaking release of the Tahoe-100M single cell dataset, Arc Atlas, and how these advancements could transform drug discovery. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @Nalidoust | @IAmJohnnyYu | @PDHsh | @Davey_Burke | @Genophoria Download the Tahoe Dataset Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 1:40 Significance of Tahoe-100M dataset 4:22 Where we are with virtual cell models and protein language models 10:26 Significance of perturbational data 17:39 Challenges and innovations in data collection 24:42 Open sourcing and community collaboration 33:51 Predictive ability and importance of virtual cell models 35:27 Drug discovery and virtual cell models 44:27 Platform vs. single hypothesis companies 46:05 Rise of Chinese biotechs 51:36 AI in drug discovery…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
Building Hard Tech in Hard Markets: Kyle Vogt on Cruise, Twitch, and The Bot Company 38:14

22 weeks ago38:14

38:14

Kyle Vogt joins Sarah and Elad on this week’s episode of No Priors . A serial entrepreneur, Kyle co-founded Twitch, transforming live streaming, and later Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company acquired by GM for $1 billion. Now he’s taking on AI-powered home robotics with The Bot Company. In this episode, Kyle shares his journey building transformative tech companies, the challenges of scaling autonomous systems, and why he believes home robots are the next frontier. They also discuss the parallels between AVs and robotics, overcoming consumer skepticism, US vs. China manufacturing, and the policies needed to foster a competitive robotics industry. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @KVogt Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:29 Founding Cruise 3:12 Tesla vs. Waymo approach 4:44 Scaling autonomous vehicles 10:03 The Bot Company 16:35 Deploying robots in the home 17:56 Parallels between robots and AV markets 20:51 Personifying robots and overcoming consumer skepticism 25:00 Timeline on consumer robots 26:47 Chinese vs. US manufacturing 29:15 Fostering a competitive domestic robotics industry 34:00 Lessons from Cruise & personal philosophies…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
How Harvey AI is Changing the Legal Industry with Winston Weinberg 49:35

23 weeks ago49:35

49:35

This week on No Priors, Sarah sits down with Harvey cofounder and CEO Winston Weinberg. Harvey is one of the leading application layer AI companies, building domain-specific AI for law firms, professional service providers, and the Fortune 500. They are already working with companies like Bridgewater, KKR, PWC, and O’Melveny with over $500M in funding from OpenAI, Sequoia, Kleiner, GV and Elad and Sarah. In this episode, Sarah and Winston cover AI product strategy, the future of professional services, company values, keeping up with research, and the law industry of the future. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @WinstonWeinberg Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 2:39 Harvey’s founding story 3:46 Capability improvement 6:39 Building teams around AI capabilities 9:17 End to end task completion 12:37 Beginning with large industry leaders 17:21 Working with users skeptical of automation 20:40 Being a lawyer today and in the future 26:02 Adapting product for other domains 26:58 Hiring philosophy at Harvey 30:39 Lessons and mistakes as a founder 32:53 Personal drive 40:21 Advice to other founders 44:35 Prediction for next ChatGPT moment…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
DeepSeek, Deep Research, and 2025 Predictions with Sarah and Elad 22:32

24 weeks ago22:32

22:32

This week on No Priors , Sarah and Elad celebrate the 100th episode! They dive into the biggest AI stories of 2025, breaking down DeepSeek—truth vs. hype, the rapid consumer adoption, and the real cost of training the models. They debate model commoditization and the value of being a frontier model provider vs. building on existing work. Plus, they unpack OpenAI’s new Deep Research release and the latest on Stargate. Finally, they share bold predictions for 2025, covering robots, autonomous vehicles, local AI models, emerging data-generation strategies, and reasoning breakthroughs. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:19 DeepSeek 5:38 Are models commoditizing? 8:33 DeepSeek’s consumer adoption 9:16 OpenAI’s Deep Research release 13:30 Stargate 15:04 Elad & Sarah’s Predictions for 2025…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
Rick Caruso on LA’s Wildfires, Policy Failures, and the Path Forward 27:11

25 weeks ago27:11

27:11

This week on No Priors, Elad sits down with Rick Caruso, LA real estate developer and runner-up in the 2022 mayoral race. With experience serving under three LA mayors, as well as on the police commission and the board of water and power, Rick offers a unique perspective on the systemic failures that contributed to the devastation of the January 2025 wildfires in communities like the Palisades and Altadena. He discusses the steps he took to build more resilient infrastructure in his properties and how California can rebuild smarter to better prepare for future disasters. They also explore the state’s water management, rising crime, and how to leverage California’s vast natural resources and budget to create a better future for all residents. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @RickCarusoLA Show Notes 0:00 Introduction 0:56 Caruso’s history in business and public service 3:36 Failures in fire prevention and response 5:58 How Caruso’s properties survived 8:26 Water shortages and infrastructure failures 9:47 Arson, looting, and crime in LA 15:03 Rebuilding 20:50 Allocating California’s resources effectively 26:15 Caruso’s future plans…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
What Can We Do About Wildfires? With Convective Capital’s Bill Clerico 37:59

26 weeks ago37:59

37:59

This week on No Priors , Sarah and Elad sit down with Bill Clerico, founder of Convective Capital, an early stage venture fund focused on technology-driven solutions for wildfire mitigation and climate resilience. The wildfires in Los Angeles have caused unprecedented property damage and immense hardship for countless individuals and families. This episode is devoted to diving into understanding what happened and what we can do in the future. Bill shares his insights into the increasing severity of wildfires, the role of policy, and how infrastructure issues, like outdated building codes and underfunded utilities, are contributing to the crisis. They discuss the latest innovations in fire-fighting technology, from advanced detection to drones, and how these tools can help mitigate future damage. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @BillClerico Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 1:02 Why are wildfires getting worse? 5:37 Policies and regulatory decisions 10:47 Housing: building codes and permitting 13:19 Key factors in response 16:20 Improving water supply and city infrastructure 19:10 Preventing wildfires 21:26 Underinvestment in California’s utilities 26:53 Innovative fire fighting technology 29:35 Accelerating Los Angeles’ recovery 34:29 Actions homeowners, insurance companies, and governments can take…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
How AI Agents Are Transforming Customer Support, with Decagon’s Jesse Zhang 30:09

27 weeks ago30:09

30:09

Today on No Priors , co-founder and CEO of Decagon, Jesse Zhang, joins Elad to discuss the future of agentic customer support. Decagon provides AI-powered customer interactions for companies like Rippling, Notion, Duolingo, Classpass, Substack, Vanta, Eventbrite, and more. Jesse shares the thesis behind starting Decagon, why he sees customer support as the ideal entry point for agentic technology, and what areas of AI excite him most. They also discuss voice-based interfaces, issues with latency in current capabilities, and the connection between young math olympiad communities and today’s AI startups. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @TheJesseZhang Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:30 Starting Decagon 3:15 Business impact of adopting agents for customer support and customer ops 8:00 AI infrastructure and models for customer success agents 12:05 Voice-based capabilities and text-to-speech engines 15:00 Combatting latency 16:25 Crossover of math and AI communities 21:12 Exciting areas of AI 25:29 Strengths and weaknesses of agents…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
Erik Bernhardsson on Creating Tools That Make AI Feel Effortless 23:36

28 weeks ago23:36

23:36

Today on No Priors , Elad chats with Erik Bernhardsson, founder and CEO of Modal Labs, a platform simplifying ML workflows by providing a serverless infrastructure designed to streamline deployment, scaling, and development for AI engineers. Erik talks about his early work on Spotify’s ML algorithms, what Modal offers today, and his vision for building an end-to-end solution for AI engineers. They dive into GPU trends, cloud vs on-premise setups, and when to train custom models vs use off-the-shelf solutions. Erik also shares his thoughts on the evolving role of AI in fields like coding, physics, and music. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @Bernhardsson Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:22 Erik's early interest in ML infra 1:22 Founding Modal Labs 4:17 State of GPU use today and what’s to come 7:14 Modal's end-to-end vision 9:00 Differentiating amongst competition 10:20 Cloud vs on-premise 12:35 Popular AI models 13:20 Gaps in AI infrastructure 14:55 Insights on vector databases 16:48 Training models vs off-the-shelf models 17:47 AI’s impact on coding and physics 22:14 AI's impact on music…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
The Best of 2024 with Sarah Guo and Elad Gil 27:07

30 weeks ago27:07

27:07

2024 has been a year of transformative technological progress, marked by conversations that have reshaped our understanding of AI's evolution and what lies ahead. Throughout the year, Sarah and Elad have had the privilege of speaking with some of the brightest minds in the field. As we look back on the past months, we’re excited to share highlights from some of our favorite No Priors podcast episodes. Featured guests include Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Andrej Karpathy (OpenAI, Tesla), Bret Taylor (Sierra), Aditya Ramesh, Tim Brooks, and Bill Peebles (OpenAI’s Sora Team), Dmitri Dolgov (Waymo), Dylan Field (Figma), and Alexandr Wang (Scale). Want to dive deeper? Listen to the full episodes here: NVIDIA's Jensen Huang on AI Chip Design, Scaling Data Centers, and his 10-Year Bet No Priors Ep. 89 | With NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang The Road to Autonomous Intelligence, With Andrej Karpathy from OpenAI and Tesla No Priors Ep. 80 | With Andrej Karpathy from OpenAI and Tesla Transforming Customer Service through Company Agents, with Sierra’s Bret Taylor No Priors Ep. 82 | With CEO of Sierra Bret Taylor OpenAI’s Sora team thinks we’ve only seen the "GPT-1 of video models" No Priors Ep.61 | OpenAI's Sora Leaders Aditya Ramesh, Tim Brooks and Bill Peebles Waymo’s Journey to Full Autonomy: AI Breakthroughs, Safety, and Scaling No Priors Ep. 87 | With Co-CEO of Waymo Dmitri Dolgov Designing the Future: Dylan Field on AI, Collaboration, and Independence No Priors Ep. 55 | With Figma CEO Dylan Field The Data Foundry for AI with Alexandr Wang from Scale No Priors Ep. 65 | With Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:15 Jensen Huang on building at data-center scale 4:00 Andrej Karpathy on the AI exo-cortex, model control, and a shift to smaller models 7:14 Bret Taylor on the agentic future of business interactions 11:17 OpenAI’s Sora team on visual models and their role in AGI 15:53 Waymo’s Dmitri Dolgov on bridging the gap to full autonomy and the challenge of 100% accuracy 19:00 Figma’s Dylan Field on the future of interfaces and new modalities 23:29 Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang on the journey to AGI 26:29 Outro…

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

1
Revolutionizing Customer Success with Agency’s Elias Torres 31:18

31 weeks ago31:18