Mar 14, 2025 · 1 min read
Dr. Priscilla Chan on AI’s Role in Science at SXSW
Dr. Priscilla Chan and Emily Chang explored how AI-powered virtual cells and large-scale computing are poised to accelerate biomedical breakthroughs.
At SXSW, Dr. Priscilla Chan, co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Emily Chang, “Bloomberg Originals” host, explored how advances in generative AI are shaping the future of medicine.
Priscilla discussed CZI’s vision to build AI-powered “virtual cells” — digital models that can predict human cell behavior, and building one of the largest AI computing clusters for nonprofit life sciences research to enable AI for biomedicine at scale.
The hope is that with these models, we’ll be able to answer some of the hardest questions in biology … And if a virtual cell can help us answer those questions, we’ll be so much closer to actually curing and preventing disease.
She also shared how these advancements could lead to faster, more efficient medical breakthroughs and advanced treatments that are key in reaching CZI’s mission to help scientists cure, prevent or manage all diseases by the end of this century.
Watch clips from the talk above.
