TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew Says AI Could Drive Major Scientific Breakthroughs Within Three Years
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew Says AI Could Drive Major Scientific Breakthroughs Within Three Years
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said on Monday that artificial intelligence could transform scientific research within the next three years, speeding up discoveries in physics, biotechnology, chemistry and materials science.
Mr Chew made the remarks at the DBS Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore. He said the pace of AI development was accelerating sharply and that the technology was still at an early stage. In his view, progress could lead to scientific advances that go beyond current expectations.
Concerns over alignment
Mr Chew also pointed to a key challenge for the industry: keeping increasingly capable AI systems aligned with human values and within appropriate ethical limits as their abilities grow.
ByteDance's work in AI-powered science
He said ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, is building its own AI models for scientific use and exploring partnerships with researchers. One example is Protenix-v2, developed by ByteDance's Seed research team and launched in April. The model is designed to predict and generate biomolecular structures, which could support future drug discovery.
Growing investment in AI for research
Interest in applying AI to science is growing as technology firms and governments commit billions of dollars to new tools. Meta, Google and the US government have announced a $1.8 billion initiative to build AI models that can predict how cells behave. The project aims to accelerate biological research and help scientists identify new drugs.
Turning such capabilities into real benefits for society will depend on responsible development, scientific collaboration and effective safeguards. Mr Chew's comments point to a future in which AI does more than automate everyday tasks and plays a larger part in scientific discovery.