AI on the Hill

In this episode of AI on the Hill in the Spotlight, host Vivian sits down with Shuang Cao, an AI researcher, to take a closer look at EviDex — a project focused on making sure AI systems give fresh, accurate answers instead of relying on outdated information. Shuang's work centers on building reliable, auditable AI systems, drawing on experience from research projects that have contributed to major international computer systems conferences. Together, Vivian and Shuang explore what it takes to keep AI current in a world where people turn to search engines, chatbots, and AI assistants for everything from schoolwork to health questions, why reliability matters so much as AI becomes part of everyday decision-making, and what responsible AI design looks like in practice. This episode highlights both the technical challenge of keeping AI up to date and the broader stakes for trust in the tools we rely on every day.

In this episode of AI on the Hill in the Spotlight, we take a closer look at Med-ICE — a system built to make medical AI more trustworthy and reliable. We explore how multi-agent collaboration can improve reasoning, why reliability is critical in healthcare, and what responsible AI design looks like in practice. This episode highlights both the technical innovation and the broader lessons for the future of AI in medicine.

AI is rapidly entering biometrics workflows — but what actually holds up under FDA review, and where do teams most often go wrong?

Speakers & Moderator

In this episode of AI on the Hill, we bring together perspectives from the U.S. FDA, global biostatistics leadership, and legal experts to unpack how AI is being evaluated in regulated clinical development today, beyond hype, demos, or exploratory use cases.

The conversation dives into the real pitfalls sponsors face when applying AI to biometrics, including bias risks, validation gaps, governance challenges, and the blurred line between decision support and submission-grade evidence. Panelists discuss why AI is not yet ready to serve as a clinical endpoint, how AI-generated analyses may (or may not) complement pivotal trials, and what FDA reviewers actually look for when AI influences statistical analysis or decision-making.

Key topics include:

This episode is essential listening for professionals in biostatistics, biometrics, clinical development, regulatory affairs, and AI-enabled analytics who want a clear, regulator-aware view of where AI truly fits, and where caution is still required.

Recorded live | Public Zoom Webinar

This is an excerpt from Pipettes to Prompts — From Pipettes to Prompts: Reprogramming Science with AI (Part 6/6).

René and Yaoyu dive into the founder’s journey — from the thrill of building Cypher AI to the challenges of entrepreneurship, AI ethics, and keeping humans in charge of technology. Yaoyu shares moving stories about innovation, responsibility, and his belief that technology must serve humanity.

Tune in for insights on:

Lessons from launching Cypher AI

AI’s evolving role in science and productivity

Why “humans in the loop” is the future of innovation

You can connect with our host, René Bastón, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renebaston/

And our guest, Yaoyu Yang, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaoyuyang/

For more information on any of the topics discussed, visit the Hill Research Podcast at: https://www.hillresearch.ai/podcast

This is an excerpt from Pipettes to Prompts — From Pipettes to Prompts: Reprogramming Science with AI (Part 5/6).

After years inside Ginkgo Bioworks, Yaoyu recognized a universal truth: scientists still live in Excel Hell. In this episode, he breaks down why even the most sophisticated lab systems can’t replace spreadsheets — and how that frustration inspired the founding of Cypher AI.

Tune in for insights on:

Why scientists cling to Excel despite better tools

The real-world pain points of lab software

How flexibility and creativity drive scientific innovation

You can connect with our host, René Bastón, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renebaston/

And our guest, Yaoyu Yang, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaoyuyang/

For more information on any of the topics discussed, visit the Hill Research Podcast at: https://www.hillresearch.ai/podcast

This is an excerpt from Pipettes to Prompts — From Pipettes to Prompts: Reprogramming Science with AI (Part 4/6).

Yaoyu recounts his years at Ginkgo Bioworks, where he helped design large-scale software systems for synthetic biology. He explains how “foundry thinking” changed his view of biology, and why building the right abstractions is as much art as engineering.

Tune in for insights on:

How Ginkgo’s foundry model transformed biotech

Building scalable tools for biological engineering

Lessons from the Redwood Award–winning team

You can connect with our host, René Bastón, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renebaston/

And our guest, Yaoyu Yang, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaoyuyang/

For more information on any of the topics discussed, visit the Hill Research Podcast at: https://www.hillresearch.ai/podcast

This is an excerpt from Pipettes to Prompts — From Pipettes to Prompts: Reprogramming Science with AI (Part 3/6).

Can AI ever replace scientific intuition? In this thought-provoking exchange, Yaoyu shares why he believes in human intelligence over computational intelligence, and René challenges the common myths about fully automated discovery.

Tune in for insights on:

The limits of “AI scientists”

Why human intuition still matters in discovery

Balancing automation with creativity

You can connect with our host, René Bastón, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renebaston/

And our guest, Yaoyu Yang, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaoyuyang/

For more information on any of the topics discussed, visit the Hill Research Podcast at: https://www.hillresearch.ai/podcast

This is an excerpt from Pipettes to Prompts — From Pipettes to Prompts: Reprogramming Science with AI (Part 2/6).

René and Yaoyu discuss the creation of Aquarium, a laboratory operating system that lets researchers design and execute experiments as code. Yaoyu explains how he helped bring software engineering discipline into wet-lab science and why reproducibility depends on good abstractions.

Tune in for insights on:

Translating experiments into executable code

The origins of lab automation at the University of Washington

Why abstraction is both engineering and art

You can connect with our host, René Bastón, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renebaston/

And our guest, Yaoyu Yang, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaoyuyang/

For more information on any of the topics discussed, visit the Hill Research Podcast at: https://www.hillresearch.ai/podcast

This is an excerpt from Pipettes to Prompts — From Pipettes to Prompts: Reprogramming Science with AI (Part 1/6).

In this episode, host René Bastón, Venture Partner at Covenant Venture Capital, speaks with Yaoyu Yang, Founder & CEO of Cypher AI and former engineer at Ginkgo Bioworks, about his unlikely leap from electrical engineering to biology.

Yaoyu shares how a single class in biology transformed his academic path, leading him from circuits to cell systems, and how curiosity became his strongest career engine.

Tune in for insights on:

Bridging engineering and life sciences

How curiosity fuels scientific breakthroughs

The mindset behind cross-disciplinary innovation

You can connect with our host, René Bastón, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renebaston/

And our guest, Yaoyu Yang, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaoyuyang/

For more information on any of the topics discussed, visit the Hill Research Podcast at: https://www.hillresearch.ai/podcast

In this episode of AI on the Hill, host René Bastón sits down with Yaoyu Yang, Founder & CEO of Cypher AI, to explore one of the most fascinating questions of our time: Can AI truly be a scientist?

With over a decade at the intersection of biology and software, Yaoyu has built systems that redefine how experiments are designed and executed, from developing Aquarium at the University of Washington to architecting platforms at Ginkgo Bioworks, and now leading Cypher AI, where he’s building the world’s first AI software engineer for scientists.

Together, they discuss how human-in-the-loop AI is empowering, not replacing, researchers, what it means to turn pipettes into prompts, and how the future of discovery will depend on collaboration between human creativity and machine intelligence.

This episode dives deep into the evolving relationship between humans, AI, and science, and what it means to rethink intelligence itself.