"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders, Researchers, and Live Player Analysis Training an AI Scientist with Feedback from Reality, w- Liam Fedus & Ekin Dogus Cubuk (from a16z)
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Oct 2, 2025 
Liam Fedus, a former OpenAI research leader who co-created ChatGPT, and Ekin Doğuş Çubuk, an ex-Google DeepMind head of materials research, discuss their groundbreaking venture, Periodic Labs. They aim to create AI-driven physical labs that connect real-world experiments with AI insights. Key topics include 'experiment-in-the-loop' strategies, measuring robotic success through superconductivity metrics, and the importance of cross-disciplinary teams. They highlight a unique culture prioritizing curiosity and collaboration, aiming to reshape scientific discovery through AI.
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From Tire-Flipping To Talking Quantum
- Liam and Doge first connected years ago at Google Brain, even flipping a giant tire together.
- Their casual chats about quantum mechanics and superconductivity seeded the idea for Periodic.
Beeline To The Target Distribution
- Out-of-distribution performance improves with scale but sometimes too slowly to be practical for real breakthroughs.
- Creating training data that closely matches the target task speeds progress more effectively than blind scaling.
Pick A North Star That Forces Foundational Work
- A North Star like room-temperature superconductivity forces development of many sub-skills (autonomous synthesis, characterization).
- Choosing such a goal yields transferable intermediate wins and community impact even before a product emerges.