Genetic engineers have ways to direct the evolution of molecules in the lab, but they can usually only test so many possibilities. And even a protein of typical length can be modified in an almost infinite number of ways (because proteins are built from hundreds of amino acids, and each acid has 20 possible types) .
But OpenAI’s models frequently spit out suggestions that a third of the protein’s amino acids have changed.
Openai
“We put this model into the lab right away and saw real results,” says Joe Betts-Lacroix, CEO of Retro. He says that the idea of the model is very good, and that it is an improvement over the original Yamanaka factor in a significant proportion of cases.
Vadim Gradyshev, an aging researcher at Harvard University who consults with Retro, says there needs to be a better way to make stem cells. “For us, that would be very helpful.[Skin cells]are easy to reprogram, but other cells are not,” he says. “And when you do that with a new species, it’s often very different and you don’t get anything.”
As with any AI model, it’s not yet clear how exactly GPT-4b arrives at its guess. “It’s like when AlphaGo beat the best humans at Go, but it took us a long time to figure out why,” Betts-Lacroix says. “We’re still figuring out what it does, and we think we’ve only scratched the surface of how to apply this.”
OpenAI says no money was exchanged or received in this partnership. But the announcement could add to the questions swirling around OpenAI CEO’s side project, as the research could potentially benefit Retro, whose largest investor is Altman.
Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Altman’s extensive investments in privately held tech startups amounted to an “opaque investment empire” and that some of these companies also do business with OpenAI, making them “potential.” “There is a growing list of conflicts.”
In Retro’s case, just being associated with competition from Altman, OpenAI, and AGI could increase the company’s profile and ability to hire staff and raise capital. Betts LaCroix did not respond to questions about whether the early-stage company is currently in fundraising mode.
OpenAI said Mr. Altman was not directly involved in this work and that it never makes decisions based on Mr. Altman’s other investments.
