Liam Fedus, OpenAIโs VP of research for post-training, is leaving the company to found a materials science AI startup.
The Information initially reported Fedusโ plans. In a statement on X, Fedus confirmed the report and added a few additional details.
โMy undergrad was in physics and Iโm keen to apply this technology there,โ Fedus said in the statement. โBecause AI for science is one of the most strategically important areas to OpenAI and achieving [artificial superintelligence], OpenAI is planning to invest in and partner with my new company.โ
Fedusโ firm will compete with Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and others in the nascent AI materials science space. In 2023, DeepMind claimed that its AI system, Gnome, found crystals that could be used to make new materials. More recently, Microsoft unveiled a pair of materials-discovering AI tools called MatterGen and MatterSim.
Some experts are skeptical that todayโs AI is capable of truly novel scientific discoveries, however.
