OpenAI partners with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where the first atomic bomb was created, to research the application of AI in the field of life sciences.

On July 9, OpenAI announced a partnership with LANL's life sciences division to evaluate the potential of AI models like GPT-4o in assisting scientists with laboratory tasks. . The project focuses on biosafety assessment for GPT-4o and real-time voice systems, thereby understanding how they can be applied in life science research.

LANL was founded in 1943 with the goal of building the world's first atomic bomb. After nearly 50 years of focusing on high-level military research, LANL turned to civilian research and development after the Cold War (1991). Today, LANL's life sciences division researches many areas, including vaccine development, sustainable biotechnology, the impact of climate change on disease and threat detection biology.

GPT-4o is OpenAI's latest “multimodal” large language model, allowing users to interact with chatbots using voice, images, and text. Under the collaboration agreement, GPT-4o will be tested in tasks such as cell transformation, cell culture and cell separation.

Source: OpenAI

In addition, the project will focus on incorporating “wet lab techniques,” training AI models to support complex tasks such as mass spectrometry. In addition, the project will also exploit new AI application methods in the laboratory, taking advantage of GPT-4o's voice and image processing capabilities to help scientists research more effectively. OpenAI hopes the project will contribute to the company's biorisk research efforts.

This cooperation takes place in the context that technology giants such as Microsoft and Apple are gradually withdrawing from OpenAI due to legal concerns. On July 10, Microsoft announced its withdrawal from the OpenAI board, just one year after investing $13 billion in the company. In June, the European Union also announced that OpenAI could be subject to antitrust investigation due to its cooperation with Microsoft.

OpenAI's cooperation with LANL takes place in the context that the company is facing many legal troubles, especially related to Microsoft. Despite investing $13 billion in OpenAI last year, Microsoft suddenly announced its withdrawal from the company's board of directors on July 10, after the European Union announced that OpenAI could be subject to an anti-corruption investigation. Exclusive due to cooperation with Microsoft.