The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub is spearheading the Virtual Biology Initiative, which will build open biological datasets to train AI. Total investment in the effort has reached $1.8 billion.
Meta, Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs are jointly investing $300 million. The U.S. government is contributing more than $1 billion. The Department of Energy is investing more than $500 million, while the National Institutes of Health is coordinating data from previous funding exceeding $500 million.
The initiative aims to create predictive AI models of cells to accelerate biomedical research and shorten drug development timelines. Researchers will measure how cells respond to a wide range of conditions to develop a more comprehensive understanding of cellular functions.
The datasets will eventually be public, but corporate funders will have a period of restricted early access.