Episode 14 of The World Model Podcast explores the cutting-edge intersection of World Models, drug discovery, and material science what the host calls “digital alchemy.”For centuries, discovering new medicines and materials has been a slow, expensive, and largely serendipitous process. Today, World Models are transforming this process into a precise, predictive, and computationally-driven science.The episode highlights several breakthroughs and concepts:

• From AlphaFold to Dynamic Simulation: While AlphaFold solved static protein structures, World Models simulate molecular dynamics, predicting how proteins move and interact with potential drugs in real time.
• Functional Biology in Silico: World Models can simulate drug-protein binding events, molecular interactions, and toxicity before any physical lab work, filtering billions of virtual compounds down to the most promising candidates.
• Digital Twins of Cellular Processes: Companies like Recursion Pharmaceuticals and Relay Therapeutics are building causal simulations of disease and drug interactions, creating virtual laboratories that accelerate discovery.
• Beyond Biology—Material Science: The same principles apply to materials engineering, such as designing safer, higher-capacity batteries by simulating atomic-level electrochemical dynamics.

The host’s controversial take: within a decade, the majority of pre-clinical drug and material discovery will happen in simulation, with wet labs serving primarily as validation centres. The future belongs to the organizations that control the most accurate molecular and material World Models—effectively the “patent holders” of generative processes themselves.Episode 14 sets up profound ethical and strategic questions about ownership, validation, and the power of AI to manipulate physical systems, preparing listeners for the next episode on modelling human behaviour.