Podlipodcast player Webplayer

"The Cognitive Revolution"

"The Cognitive Revolution"

AI Discovered Antibiotics: How Small Data & Small GNNs Led to Big Results, w/ MIT Prof. Jim Collins

"The Cognitive Revolution" · Oct 14, 2025 · 1:24:53

0:001:24:53

Listen in the Podli app 🎧

Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.

Jim Collins, Termeer Professor at MIT, unveils his AI-powered project that has discovered several new antibiotics, effective against resistant strains and often employing entirely new mechanisms of action. He details how their refined multi-step AI process, even with small datasets and modest compute, can efficiently screen vast chemical spaces to identify promising drug candidates. This breakthrough offers a realistic and affordable path to tackling the staggering antibiotic resistance crisis, which currently claims over a million lives annually. Collins argues this practical application of AI represents a transformative win for humanity, often overlooked amidst the focus on AGI.

Sponsors:

AssemblyAI:

AssemblyAI is the speech-to-text API for building reliable Voice AI apps, offering high accuracy, low latency, and scalable infrastructure. Start building today with $50 in free credits at https://assemblyai.com/cognitive

Claude:

Claude is the AI collaborator that understands your entire workflow and thinks with you to tackle complex problems like coding and business strategy. Sign up and get 50% off your first 3 months of Claude Pro at https://claude.ai/tcr

Linear:

Linear is the system for modern product development. Nearly every AI company you've heard of is using Linear to build products. Get 6 months of Linear Business for free at: https://linear.app/tcr

AGNTCY:

AGNTCY is dropping code, specs, and services. Visit AGNTCY.org. Visit Outshift Internet of Agents

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

PRODUCED BY:

https://aipodcast.ing

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) About the Episode

(04:30) Introducing Jim Collins

(05:26) Antibiotic Resistance Primer

(14:04) The Antibiotic Market Failure

(18:45) AI Discovers Halicin (Part 1)

(18:51) Sponsors: AssemblyAI Ad 1 | Claude

(22:11) AI Discovers Halicin (Part 2)

(30:58) The Economics of Discovery

(39:10) Inside the AI Architecture (Part 1)

(39:17) Sponsors: Linear | AGNTCY | Shopify

(43:47) Inside the AI Architecture (Part 2)

(01:00:13) Human-in-the-Loop Discovery

(01:12:12) Novel Mechanisms & Properties

(01:19:02) Future Applications & Risks

(01:27:01) A Call to Action

(01:28:04) Outro

Episodes: "The Cognitive Revolution"

PodliGet the free Podli app
↓ App