Ekin Dogus Cubuk

Building an AI Physicist: ChatGPT Co-Creator’s Next Venture

Anjney Midha, Liam Fedus, Ekin Dogus Cubuk

Founded by co-creators of ChatGPT and DeepMind physicists, Periodic Labs operates a frontier AI research facility dedicated to advancing physical science by coupling Large Language Models with automated high-throughput experimentation. The organization deploys a unique "mid-training" methodology and physically grounded reward functions to overcome the epistemic limits of current models, specifically targeting the discovery of high-temperature superconductors exceeding 200 Kelvin. By integrating ML scientists, experimentalists, and simulators into a unified workflow, the company aims to replace theoretical predictions with real-world data loops, eventually expanding its "AI physicist" capabilities to serve aerospace, defense, and semiconductor industries.