Most scientific breakthroughs rely on data and the ability to analyze it.
Take a bunch of test results, a cadre of images, batches of electronic health records, and then see what we can see. Machine learning, when applied to such data, can identify potential drug targets, determine who is going to respond to a specific drug treatment and who won’t, and predict who is most likely to develop complications.
Hertz Fellow Sam Rodriques is taking that a step further, using AI to create a faster way to achieve those kinds of insights, and more.
In 2023, Rodriguez launched FutureHouse, a nonprofit research lab working toward building an AI scientist or AI systems that can automate scientific research in biology and other complex sciences. By accelerating the pace of discovery, researchers can use the power of AI to do a whole host of things, like find cures for diseases, solutions for climate change, and other life- and world-improving technologies.
An AI scientist, for example, could figure out how the human brain works, or deliver any gene to any cell in the body. It could speed up the pace of discovery — and change — across the scientific spectrum.
In 2025, the company released four AI tools: Crow, Falcon, Owl and Phoenix. Crow is a general-purpose agent that does scientific literature and answers questions about it. Falcon automates literature reviews. Owl looks for previous work in a given subject area, and Phoenix helps plan chemistry experiments.
