Theory and Practice – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Throughout the fourth season of Theory and Practice, we explored emerging human-like artificial intelligence and robots. We asked if we could learn as much about ourselves as we do about the machines we use. The series has covered safety guardrails for AI, empathic AI communication, communication between minds and machines, robotic surgery, computers that smell, and using AI to understand human vision. The most recent episode with Google DeepMind's Dr. Clément Farabet illuminates how computers might demonstrate understanding and reasoning on par with humans. 

In the final episode, we reflect on investing in artificial intelligence's future with the leader of GV’s Digital Investing Team, Dave Munichiello, who has a long-standing history with AI and robotics. Dave was an early technologist at Kiva Systems, purchased by Amazon and ultimately becoming Amazon Robotics. Over the past decade-plus at GV, Dave has been leading investments across two major categories: Platforms Empowering Developers (GitLab, Segment, Slack, RedPanda, etc) and Platforms Powering AI Systems (Determined, Modular, SambaNova, Snorkel AI, etc), along with others. Dave’s first AI investment, Lattice (bought by Apple’s Siri team) was seven years before the hype of generative AI. We asked, from a seasoned AI investor's perspective, where does AI hold the most promise? 

To answer this, Dave returns to the themes we've investigated over the last eight weeks — including AI trust and safety, which Google Health's Greg Corrado raised in the first episode. Together, we explore how AI will change how we work, the nature of jobs, and how an investing team with a culture focused on having more questions than answers is well positioned for AI’s future.

Dave rounds out the discussion with a picture of how artificial intelligence, with real-life use cases, will move research lab theory to real-world practice. He also walks us through his hopes for AI, including a world where humans and computers exist as co-pilots.

Ultimately, Dave shares an optimistic and rational view of AI's future. “AI has the potential to democratize the very creation of technology," he reflects. "With AI-assistance, folks across the country will no longer need to rely on software programmers to solve everyday digital problems – they’ll be able to create these tools themselves. That is incredibly exciting, and I'm honored to be a part of that journey."

In this season of Theory and Practice, we explore newly emerging human-like artificial intelligence and robots — and how we can learn as much about ourselves, as humans, as we do about the machines we use. As we near the end of Season 4, we explore whether decision-making and judgment are still the final preserve of humans.

Our guest for Episode 7 is Dr. Clément Farabet, VP of Research at Google DeepMind. For the past 15 years, Dr. Farabet’s work has been guided by a central mission: figuring out how to build AI systems that can learn on their own — and ultimately redefine how we write software. We discuss the conundrum in the Chinese Room Argument to explore whether computers can achieve artificial general intelligence. 

Dr. Farabet outlines four modules required for computers to demonstrate understanding. These modules include a predictive model of its environment that can create a representation of its world and an ability to store memories. He also points to the ability to perform reasoning about possible futures from its representation and memories. And finally, he explains how the ability to act in the world is key to illustrating understanding.

Dr. Fabaret believes that we can build computers to become more human-like than most people may realize, but the overarching goal should be to build systems that improve human life.

Psychiatry is changing and will be unrecognizable in the next 10-20 years, given our new understanding about the role of brain circuits in the generation of emotions and behavior.

This week we talk to Professor Karl Deisseroth, D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. We discuss his work on optogenetics and the insights it has given into the workings of the human brain.

Professor Deisseroth also explains the potential for the future of psychiatry: including deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and the use of our smartphone and digital data, known as our “digital exhaust”. Will these methods become a regular part of psychiatric practice in the future?

Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.

This season we'll dive deep into the languages of life through explorations of the "dark genome", genome editing, protein folding, the future of aging, and more.

Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

Using machine learning to predict how a protein folds helps solve a riddle in biology. But it is just the start.

These algorithms open up new opportunities to explore the physiological processes that have eluded research, adapt and create proteins for therapeutic purposes, and even power nano-molecular machines.

This week we speak with Professor David Baker about the enormous scope for making new proteins and how that translates into practical uses to tackle diseases, such as Covid-19.

We also discuss the “technological molecular design revolution” and how nanomachines could work like tiny vacuum cleaners to clear arteries from atherosclerosis or our brains from Alzheimer’s amyloid plaques.

David Baker also explains why none of this is possible without a sense of community in the lab.

Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.

This season we'll dive deep into the languages of life through explorations of the "dark genome", genome editing, protein folding, the future of aging, and more.

Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

In the last 20 years or so, many new cancer treatments have emerged that provide greater precision and targeting of cancer cells.

Today, we have a better understanding of the genetic components of cancer.

Through novel technology and cutting-edge science, we’re now able to understand how the accumulation of molecular alterations in the genome leads to the coding of proteins that can promote uncontrolled cell division.

New treatments are emerging at the genetic and molecular level, along with novel approaches to targeting the new microenvironment that cancers create.

On this episode of Theory and Practice, we explore the future of cancer medicine, and there’s no better leader to turn to for that discussion than Dr. Jay Bradner. Since 2016, he’s been president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, where he leads the discovery and development of life-changing therapies to benefit patients.

Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.

This season we'll dive deep into the languages of life through explorations of the "dark genome", genome editing, protein folding, the future of aging, and more.

Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

Gene editing is the process by which alterations are made to DNA.

There are three major challenges: make precise edits at a chosen site, make edits that do not result in subsequent mutations, and have an editing process flexible enough to address the mutations which cause human disease.

This week we talk to Professor David Liu of Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. They discuss the progress that has been made to overcome these challenges, following the development of the base editing and prime editing methods in his lab.

Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.

This season we'll dive deep into the languages of life through explorations of the "dark genome", genome editing, protein folding, the future of aging, and more.

Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

For the third season of Theory and Practice, we wanted to ask: what lies ahead for the intersection of life sciences and data sciences in the next ten years?

In this episode, we explore the vastness of the "dark genome" and why "junk DNA" has been overlooked for so many decades.

Our guest is Dr. Rosana Kapeller-Lieberman, A GV Fellow and the CEO of Rome Therapeutics with over 25 years’ experience in science and therapeutics. Rosana discusses her team's scientific approach, and how they have tackled investigating the 60% of our genome that we previously thought was just filler, or repeatable DNA.

Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.

This season we'll dive deep into the languages of life through explorations of the "dark genome", genome editing, protein folding, the future of aging, and more.

Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

We first shared Julia's daughter's story a few weeks ago in our interview with Dr Timothy Yu about the first "N of 1" drug trial.

Tim recounted the journey in developing her treatment, and the intellectual and operational challenges that he faced in order to find a therapy and get it approved.

Today we hear Julia's perspective, as a parent who desperately looked for ways to help her child, Mila. All too often in these cases, there are no readily available therapies, and most patients don't have the benefit of extraordinary physicians like Tim, who refuse to accept conventional wisdom about what's impossible.

Julia Vitarello is the mother of Mila Makovec, and the Founder and CEO of Mila’s Miracle Foundation.

Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.

Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

It's rare to meet a true visionary, someone who sees where the world can go before anyone else sees it. And it's even rarer to meet someone who not only recognizes the opportunity, but also has the conviction and energy to make it a reality. For us, the person who most exemplifies these characteristics is Dr. Aviv Regev, who leads Genentech's Research and Early Development (gRED) team.

Human genetics has had a transformative impact on drug development. Single cell genomics is at a similar place to where human genetics was ten years ago, and I can't imagine a better person than Aviv to lead us on this journey.

Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.

Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

Physicians make very big decisions in people's lives. Whether or not to put in a heart valve, whether to do a stent or surgery, what chemotherapy to dose. We often make these big decisions with very little data for decision support. This has to change. As we discuss in this episode, the future of medicine will involve advanced machine learning to improve clinical decision making, and better ways to match patients to personalized therapies.

Dr. Amy Abernethy is an oncologist, specialist in palliative care medicine, researcher, previous Professor of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, previous Scientific and Medical Chief Officer of Flatiron Health, and previous Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA.

Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.

Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.