Brian and Sarah talk to David Talbot, part of the founding team at the startup Inceptive, which is using artificial intelligence to synthesize RNA molecules. It’s a fascinating discussion about AI’s use in biotech and how these two important fields are coming together to introduce new possibilities.
In news, enterprise AI use comes up again, as we get some new numbers from OpenAI detailing how many business seats it is serving. In addition, the recap addresses state action on AI regulation and a reaction from the late George Carlin’s daughter to an AI-generated comedy special that used a synthetic voice likeness of her father.
Timestamps for this episode:
[0:00] Intro
[00:17] Welcome and news recap
[00:33] OpenAI’s enterprise clients
[1:44] State-level action on AI
[3:00] AI-generated George Carlin comedy special
[6:10] Interview with David Talbot of Inceptive
[7:11] David’s career leading up to Inceptive
[9:27] AI’s role in designing RNA molecules at Inceptive
[11:44] AI’s strengths in this field
[14:58] The problems Inceptive is trying to solve
[20:18] What kinds of data Inceptive generates
[22:54] How machine learning can be used in science
[28:00] Watermarking and issues with navigating synthetic data when training AI
[30:53] Finding/generating the best data for training
[32:34] How biotech has changed how he views AI
[34:53] Applying natural language processing competencies in biotech
[36:33] What “biological software” means
[40:16] Additional details about Inceptive
Links for topics referenced in this episode:
David Talbot (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-t-271a9139/
Inceptive: https://inceptive.life/
OpenAI reveals volume of enterprise clients (Venture Beat): https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-reveals-how-many-chatgpt-for-enterprise-customers-it-has-so-far/
State-level AI legislation in the U.S. (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/us/ai-election-ads-state-legislators.html
George Carlin’s daughter criticizes AI-generated comedy special (Polygon): https://www.polygon.com/24034625/george-carlin-i-wish-i-was-dead-ai-comedy-special-kelly-carlin-dudes
The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.
Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Episode 11: David Talbot of Inceptive on generative AI use in biotech