Zuckerberg, Chan shift bulk of philanthropy to science, focusing on AI and biology to curb disease

By BARBARA ORTUTAY REDWOOD CITY Calif AP For the past decade Dr Priscilla Chan and her husband Mark Zuckerberg have focused part of their philanthropy on a lofty goal to cure prevent or manage all affection if not in their lifetime then in their children s But during that time they also funded underprivileged schools immigration overhaul and efforts around diversity equity and inclusion Related Articles Denmark eyes new law to protect citizens from AI deepfakes Robots on the commute Google adding AI assistant to Maps app and it will talk to you Gemini AI to transform Google Maps into a more conversational experience Musk the trillionaire Debate over his Tesla pay package rages Chrysler recalls Jeep plug-in hybrids due to faulty battery that can catch fire Now the billionaire couple is shifting the bulk of their philanthropic guidance to Biohub the pair s science organization and focusing on using artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery The idea is to develop virtual AI-based cell models to understand how they work in the human body investigation inflammation and use AI to harness the immune system for condition detection prevention and therapy I feel like the science work that we ve done the Biohub model in particular has been the most of impactful thing that we have done So we want to really double down on that Biohub is going to be the main focus of our philanthropy going forward Zuckerberg mentioned Wednesday evening at an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City California Three other Biohub institutes in New York San Francisco and Chicago focus on addressing different scientific challenges Chan and Zuckerberg have pledged of their lifetime wealth from shares of Meta Platforms where Zuckerberg is CEO toward these efforts Since when Biohub launched they have donated billion to basic science research a figure that does not include operating expenses for running a large-scale computer cluster for life science research The organization says it is now on track to double that amount over the next decade with an operating budget of about billion a year Last week singer Billie Eilish recounted an audience that included Chan and Zuckerberg that rich people should do more to address the world s problems Love you all but there s a minimal people in here who have a lot more money than me she mentioned to a smattering of applause And if you re a billionaire why are you a billionaire And no hate but give your money away shorties The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative the couple s charitable organization has been faced with criticism in recent times for curtailing its other philanthropic work Earlier this year it stopped funding grants related to diversity equity and inclusion immigration advocacy and other issues at this moment in the crosshairs of the Trump administration though the focus has been shifting to science and away from social issues for years the couple says long before the poll So we basically looked at the ecosystem of science funding and decided that the place that we can make the biggest impact was on tool progress Zuckerberg revealed And specifically working on long-term projects to years where the output of them was taking on a biological challenge that would produce a tool that scientists everywhere could use to accelerate the pace of science The organization earlier this year scrubbed its website s mentions of DEI including a declaration saying People of color and marginalized communities have experienced a long history of exploitation in the name of scientific research and indeed science has itself been deployed as a tool of oppression Going forward Biohub will be our primary philanthropic effort and where we ll dedicate the vast majority of our support Zuckerberg and Chan stated in a blog post Thursday We will continue our other philanthropic efforts as well but the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will serve as infrastructure and help for our initiatives Zuckerberg and Chan s increased commitment to science research comes as the Trump administration has cut billions in scientific research and general robustness funding Chan who had worked as a pediatrician and treated children with rare diseases says what she wished more than anything was a way to see what was happening inside their cells how genetic mutations were expressed in different cell types and what exactly was latest down Until now that kind of understanding has been out of reach AI is changing that For the first time we have the promising to model and predict the biology of affection in options that can reveal what s gone wrong and how we can develop new treatments to address it she reported Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg right speaks next to his wife Priscilla Chan co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative CZI during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City Calif Wednesday Nov AP Photo Jeff Chiu Priscilla Chan co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative CZI speaks during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City Calif Wednesday Nov AP Photo Jeff Chiu Dr David Baker Nobel laureate in chemistry speaks during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City Calif Wednesday Nov AP Photo Jeff Chiu Biohub Founding Technical Director Bridget Carragher speaks during a tour of the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City Calif Wednesday Nov AP Photo Jeff Chiu Show Caption of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg right speaks next to his wife Priscilla Chan co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative CZI during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City Calif Wednesday Nov AP Photo Jeff Chiu Expand On Thursday Chan and Zuckerberg also disclosed that Biohub has hired the association at EvolutionaryScale an AI research lab that has created large-scale AI systems for the life sciences Alex Rives EvolutionaryScale s co-founder will serve as Biohub s head of science leading research efforts on experimental biology evidence and artificial intelligence The financial terms were not disclosed Biohub s ambition for the next years and decades is to create virtual cell systems that would not have been manageable without contemporary advances in AI Similar to how large language models learn from vast databases of digital books online writings and other media its researchers and scientists are working toward building virtual systems that serve as digital representations of human physiology on all levels such as molecular cellular or genome As it is open source free and publicly available scientists can then conduct virtual experiments on a scale not workable in physical laboratories Noting that Biohub launched when the couple had their first child Chan listed off particular of the organization s accomplishments ranging from building the largest single-cell facts set contributing to one of the largest human cell maps building sensors to measure inflammation in real-time in living cells and researching rare diseases That work continues with a focus on using AI to advance biomedical research And to anchor it back onto the impact on patients you know why do this Chan stated It s like why is a virtual cell fundamental We have cured diseases for mice and for flies and for zebrafish countless countless times And that s great But we want to make sure that we are in fact using biology to push the forefront of medicine for people and that is so promising