On April 16, Dr. Kai Liu from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) was invited to visit the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute (TDLI) and deliver the T. D. Lee Special Colloquium entitled “AI Scientist: An AI Paradigm for Autonomous Scientific Discovery”. Approximately 60 faculty members and students attended the lecture either on site or online. Professor Ning Zhou chaired this session of the T. D. Lee Special Colloquium.
Dr. Liu delved into the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific discovery, with a particular focus on the latest advancements in drug development and materials discovery. He pointed out that AI has played a key role in multimodal data integration, spatial transcriptomics research, and cancer vaccine design, significantly accelerating the pace of scientific innovation. Drawing on his professional experience at Genentech and Sesame, Dr. Liu provided a detailed account of AI’s practical applications in drug discovery and battery materials research. He explained that by leveraging machine learning and deep learning technologies, researchers can more efficiently predict molecular properties, thereby speeding up the development of new drugs and the screening of materials. He also elucidated the value of AI in spatial transcriptomics, a technique that helps researchers better characterize gene expression patterns in tumors. Furthermore, Dr. Liu discussed the potential of large language models in scientific reasoning and explored feasible approaches to using AI agents for validating scientific discoveries. He noted that although AI still faces many challenges in tackling complex scientific problems, its development prospects are promising. When deeply integrated with the knowledge and scientific intuition of human experts, AI can deliver even greater value in research.
During the Q&A session, participants held in-depth discussions and exchanges with Dr. Liu on topics including AI world models, autonomous AI innovation, and scientific validation.
Bio of Dr. Kai Liu
Dr. Liu Kai is the Chief AI Scientist of CATL, in charge of establishing the CATL Academy of Scientific Artificial General Intelligence (Sci-AGI), and exploring ways to leverage artificial intelligence to accelerate human scientific discovery in physics, mathematics, chemistry and materials science. Prior to joining CATL, he served as Vice President of Artificial Intelligence at SES AI in the United States, where he built a full-process AI system for electrolyte material molecular discovery. He also worked as Director of Artificial Intelligence at Genentech, leading AI-driven drug R&D research. His research interests cover large language models, AI agents, and full-process research on AI-powered drug and materials discovery. Dr. Liu earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Peking University, a master’s degree in Robotics from the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and subsequently a PhD in Neuroscience and a master’s degree in Machine Learning from Johns Hopkins University in the United States.