TechCrunch

This startup is using AI to discover new materials

While the world fixates on text-, image- and movie-generating AI, a startup headed by a former DeepMind senior researcher is developing GenAI tech to support the manufacturing of new physical materials. Orbital Materials — founded by Jonathan Godwin, who previously was involved with DeepMind’s material research efforts — is creating an AI-powered platform that can be used to discover materials ranging from batteries to carbon dioxide-capturing cells. Godwin says he was inspired to found Orbital Materials by seeing how the techniques underpinning AI systems like AlphaFold, DeepMind’s AI that can predict a protein’s 3D structure from its amino acid sequence, could be applied to the materials sciences.