New in Nature: Google Agents Beat Human Doctors, Make Scientific Discoveries – With Vivek Natarajan and Anil Palepu
In this episode, Nathan Labenz speaks with Vivek Natarajan and Anil Palepu from Google DeepMind about their groundbreaking work on AMIE (Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer) and Co-Scientist. The conversation reveals how these AI systems are already outperforming human physicians in diagnostic accuracy and treatment recommendations, with AMIE now entering clinical trials at a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital. Even more remarkably, the Co-Scientist system demonstrates genuine scientific discovery capabilities, independently proposing the exact same mechanism for bacterial drug resistance that human scientists had recently discovered but not yet published—signaling a threshold moment where AI is becoming a legitimate thought partner in humanity's most complex intellectual endeavors. SPONSORS: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): Oracle Cloud Infrastructure offers next-generation cloud solutions that cut costs and boost performance. With OCI, you can run AI projects and applications faster and more securely for less. New U.S. customers can save 50% on compute, 70% on storage, and 80% on networking by switching to OCI before May 31, 2024. See if you qualify at https://oracle.com/cognitive Shopify: Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive NetSuite: Over 41,000 businesses trust NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud ERP, to future-proof their operations. With a unified platform for accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR, NetSuite provides real-time insights and forecasting to help you make quick, informed decisions. Whether you're earning millions or hundreds of millions, NetSuite empowers you to tackle challenges and seize opportunities. Download the free CFO's guide to AI and machine learning at https://netsuite.com/cognitive PRODUCED BY: https://aipodcast.ing CHAPTERS: (00:00) About the Episode (06:26) Introduction and Welcome (07:49) AMY Medical Intelligence Overview (11:29) Chat-Based Medical Interactions (13:59) Specialized Medicine Results (18:17) Co-Scientist System Headlines (Part 1) (18:21) Sponsors: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) | Shopify (21:36) Co-Scientist System Headlines (Part 2) (26:32) Bacterial Drug Resistance Discovery (31:41) AI Scientific Discovery Process (35:35) Hallucinations vs. Creativity (Part 1) (35:37) Sponsors: NetSuite (37:10) Hallucinations vs. Creativity (Part 2) (42:04) Agent Design Architecture (49:17) Long Context Benefits (55:35) Computational Requirements (01:01:10) Specialist Models Integration (01:07:01) Future Model Integration (01:12:31) Tournament Evaluation Methods (01:19:09) AI Question Generation (01:22:42) Real-World Deployment Plans (01:25:58) Outro