Still, the performance of foundation models has already led their creators to wonder about the role of human biologists in a world where computers make important insights on their own. Traditionally, biologists have been rewarded for creative and time-consuming experiments that uncover some of the workings of life. But computers may be able to see those workings in a matter of weeks, days or even hours by scanning billions of cells for patterns we can’t see. “It’s going to force a complete rethink of what we consider creativity,” Dr. Quake said. “Professors should be very, very nervous.”
