Ginkgo Bioworks is using DNA as code to digitize the cell programming revolution. Ginkgo is using AI and synthetic biology to keep the next pandemic at bay, and accelerate our production capabilities for medicine, food, and agriculture. Ginkgo’s co-founder and CEO Jason Kelly joins hosts Sarah Guo and Elad Gil to discuss bioengineering protein as a foundational model, specialized data learning from an evolutionary perspective, what we need to prepare for a future pandemic, and more.

Jason has served as a member of our board of directors since Ginkgo’s founding in 2008. He has also served as a director of CM Life Sciences II Inc. (Nasdaq: CMII), a special purpose acquisition company with a focus on the life sciences sector, since its initial public offering in February 2021. Jason holds a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Show Notes: 

(0:00:00) - The Difference Between Software Engineering and Biological Engineering

(0:06:51) - Abstractions and Infrastructure in Synthetic Bio

(0:09:23) - The Role of AI, Foundation Models that Speak Biology

(0:13:17) - AWS for Cell Engineering

(0:17:52) - Where are the AI-discovered Drugs? And Data at Gingko

(0:19:12) - Pandemic Response and Biosecurity in the Age of AI

(0:22:47) - The Likelihood of Existential AI Risk from Lone Actors Harnessing Viruses, and The Need for Defense-in-Depth

(0:31:47) - Will Progress in AI Be Biologically Inspired? And Evolution