Kurt M. Campbell Deputy Secretary of State | Official Website
On November 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology held the first government-led global summit on AI-enabled bioscience. This event was co-hosted by Microsoft, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. The AI-Bioscience Collaborative (AIBC) Summit marks a significant step in international cooperation on emerging technologies aimed at addressing major societal challenges such as healthcare improvement, food security enhancement, and climate change mitigation.
The summit gathered high-level government officials from various countries including Brazil, Canada, the EU nations, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. These representatives brought diverse perspectives on AI and biotechnology to the table. Industry leaders from global AI and biotechnology companies also participated alongside representatives from leading universities and nonprofits worldwide.
During this two-day event, participants discussed how international cooperation can accelerate innovation in AI-enabled biotechnology across multiple fields. They reviewed existing global data-sharing mechanisms for large biological datasets while identifying gaps in data availability globally. The summit also focused on computational tools that could be made more accessible to scientists to boost biotechnology innovation.
Participants highlighted global gaps in expertise and interdisciplinary collaboration necessary for next-generation biotechnology breakthroughs. Discussions included developing safeguards and best practices for safe innovation in AI-enabled biotechnology.
In conclusion of the summit discussions were made about voluntary mechanisms for pooling DNA, RNA, and protein data along with sharing expertise among researchers globally to advance biotechnology innovation further. Plans are underway for a follow-up AIBC Summit.
