TikTok CEO sees AI transforming science in just 3 years

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has an optimistically revolutionary view of artificial intelligence to share with the world as he predicts that AI will unlock major scientific breakthroughs within the next three years.

As a result of these significant breakthroughs, a broad range of sectors will be transformed. Speaking at the DBS Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore on Monday, Chew said, “In the next two to three years, we’re going to have a real scientific breakthrough: physics, biotech, chemistry, material science, because of AI. It’s very, very, very possible.”

According to Chew, the technological advancements happening at breakneck pace could unlock far-greater benefits for humanity than currently anticipated. But here is the catch: the AI advancement also brings forth a question related to regulating increasingly powerful AI systems within human ethical boundaries. “If that happens, then you know the question would be: how do you align the models?”

Speaking about AI-focused breakthroughs, Chew added, “The trend is very very clear. It’s that we are only at the beginning of what artificial intelligence can probably do. And if you look at where the trend is, [where] the progress is, particularly in areas of science, it’s really trending on a very steep curve at this moment in time.”

TikTok CEO’s remarks comes as the top tech executives have been investing billions of dollars into AI-powered scientific research. For instance, Meta, Google and the US government announced a $1.8 billion initiative to develop AI models capable of predicting the behaviour of cells to expedite biological research and drug discovery.

Highlighting the position of ByteDance in exploring AI-driven scientific breakthroughs, Chew said the company is developing its own models to boost research and collaborate with other scientists.

“There’s an effort to see how we can collaborate with a lot of scientists to make some progress in science as well,” Chew added. “There’s been some work that we’ve done in this area, and it is very exciting.”

Seed’s research team launched Protenix-v2 in April. This advanced AI model predicts and designs biomolecular structures to power next-generation drug discovery.