Artificial intelligence developers are starting to open wet labs for scientific research and experiments. A wet lab is a controlled space equipped with research instruments where chemical experiments are carried out. The move signals an intent among these companies to prove in the real world the hypotheses their AI systems generate.
Asteromorph, a South Korean startup developing superintelligence, recently opened its own wet lab, according to industry sources on the 22nd. The company leased part of a laboratory inside a biotechnology research complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. About 10 researchers have been assigned to the Hwaseong lab, and the company plans to hire additional staff with master's and doctoral degrees. Asteromorph is the first South Korean AI startup to set up a wet lab.
The Hwaseong lab will be used for life-science research and the development of new therapeutic platforms. Asteromorph develops AI specialized in solving difficult problems in science and technology. Since its founding, the company has used its in-house AI to conduct research in theoretical science. Having verified its AI's performance in theory, Asteromorph decided to secure a separate research facility out of a business need to prove its hypotheses in actual conditions.
Companies abroad are opening wet labs for the same purpose. Anthropic is a leading example. The company set up a life-science research unit in the first half of this year and opened a wet lab in the San Francisco Bay Area, where its researchers discovered a new enzyme system. Google DeepMind announced in December last year that it would establish a laboratory in the U.K. for analyzing and synthesizing new materials. That facility is also being built for materials research using Google's AI model, Gemini.
"No matter how capable an AI is or how well it solves difficult problems, in experimental science the value of AI is proven only when a hypothesis is demonstrated in real-world conditions," Asteromorph CEO Lee Min-hyung said. "Securing intellectual property rights through laboratory validation is also an important business gain," the CEO added. "Part of why AI companies are interested in wet labs is the intent to stake an early claim to academic intellectual property that directly affects future revenue or assets."