Major Moves in AI-Powered Science

The pharmaceutical industry is doubling down on AI. Takeda has signed a potential $600 million deal with Insilico Medicine to use its Pharma.AI platform for early-stage drug discovery across multiple therapeutic areas. This represents one of the larger financial commitments to AI in biotech this year. Source

Not to be outdone, Anthropic is expanding beyond chatbots and coding with the announcement of Claude Science, an “AI workbench for scientists.” The tool aims to consolidate fragmented research tools and datasets, helping researchers generate figures and visualize complex data. Source

Hollywood Meets AI Research

In a unique cross-industry partnership, Google DeepMind and indie film studio A24 have announced a “first-of-its-kind” research collaboration. While details are sparse, the partnership suggests an exploration of AI’s role in creative storytelling and film production, potentially blending DeepMind’s technical prowess with A24’s narrative innovation. Source

Hardware & The Hype Cycle

Midjourney has released a new behind-the-scenes video of its prototype medical ultrasound scanner, but it’s raising more questions than it answers. The nearly 20-minute tour of the “dunk-tank” style device, intended for spas, offered little concrete proof of its medical efficacy or imaging capabilities, leaving experts skeptical. Source

The New Browser Battleground

As AI becomes integrated into our daily tools, the browser wars are heating up again. A new roundup highlights the best alternatives to Chrome and Safari, many of which are now competing on features like built-in AI assistants, privacy-focused search, and integrated agent-like capabilities. Source

Editorial Take: Today’s theme is expansion. AI is no longer just a tool for generating text or images; it’s a foundational technology pushing into biology, cinema, and even our web browsers. The massive Takeda deal and Anthropic’s pivot show the lucrative and serious push into life sciences. However, the Midjourney story serves as a crucial counterpoint—a reminder that in these new frontiers, tangible results and validated science must eventually outweigh promotional hype.