Science is foundational to humanity’s understanding and shaping of the world around us. From harnessing the laws of physics to sequencing the human genome, every breakthrough has followed the same time-tested formula: observe, hypothesize, test, and refine. Born from the restless minds of ancient philosophers and later honed by trailblazers, from René Descartes to Albert Einstein, this age-old approach to understanding our universe has remained fundamental to our way of life. It built civilizations, launched us into the furthest known depths of space, and helped us begin to understand the code of life.

Yet, as monumental as these achievements have been, we have always been bound by one limitation: human cognition itself. Our ability to process data, form hypotheses, and conduct experiments—while incredible—has its limits. Enter Lila Sciences—the platform building Scientific Superintelligence. 

Progressing Scientific Superintelligence

Embracing a model that propels daring experimentation in the pursuit of Scientific Superintelligence to solve humankind’s most difficult problems, Dr. Geoffrey von Maltzahn and the Lila Sciences team are opening the door to catalyze breakthroughs across the entire spectrum of scientific discovery. Lila’s approach is transformative. In just two short years, leveraging modern computational tools, interdisciplinary collaboration, and AI-enabled science labs, Lila is allowing the world to rethink how we discover the future.  

Alongside Flagship Pioneering, we’re excited to invest in Lila Sciences’ $200M seed round in pursuit of Scientific Superintelligence. At General Catalyst, our mission is to transform industries—and Lila has the potential to transform both industry and academia. We share Lila’s ambition to leverage applied AI toward the process that has fueled scientific breakthroughs, and responsibly achieve Scientific Superintelligence for our national resilience. As the world continues to evolve, we must invest at the core of the system that will ensure our nation can quickly respond to the next pandemic, or develop the next generation of materials that bolster our defense, industrial and energy ecosystem.

Since Lila’s founding in 2023, its platform has performed experiments in multiple domains, achieving results that already exceed existing benchmarks. They have demonstrated the ability to discover and validate a generation of novel mRNA constructs that outperform commercially available therapeutics, identify unique compositions that would be a fraction of the cost of current commercial catalysts, and design new materials with better capacity, thermal stability and kinetic binding than leading products at industrial scale. 

Multidisciplinary Moonshots

Not surprisingly, Lila has attracted a unique team of polymaths that bring depth and breadth of expertise across diverse fields including AI, defense, commercial strategy, organizational effectiveness, robotics, and scientific fields spanning biology, chemistry and materials science. Drawing on decades of experience leading high-performing teams, from top academic institutions and most elite military units, Lila is intent on ensuring that humans maintain critical roles in establishing intentions, prioritizing goals, and supervising outcomes. 

The true power of Scientific Superintelligence will not be in a single field, but in its ability to merge disciplines. Life sciences and materials sciences don’t exist in isolation—biology, chemistry, and physics intersect constantly. As Scientific Superintelligence is achieved, Lila will be the first tool capable of seeing the entire landscape of scientific knowledge at once. The future of discovery is hyper-connected, AI-accelerated, multidisciplinary, and amplifies human potential. The best outcomes will come from a collaborative approach where AI handles complexity, and human intuition and ethics guide discovery.

Ushering in the Next Era of Science

Through human guidance, Lila’s Scientific Superintelligence and AI Science Factories will not replace science but rather usher in its next era. Lila acts as a force multiplier for scaling experimentation, with Scientific Superintelligence marking a paradigm shift—a way to think not just faster, but more expansively. Lila’s AI agents will utilize AI Science Factories, similar to today’s labs but optimized by AI and robotics, to produce two things that have never been “manufacturable” before: scientific intelligence and new scientific knowledge. Lila believes that to enable an intelligence revolution, science needs a new kind of laboratory where “AI can explore beyond the edge of what is known.” Their AI Science Factories are not just an automated lab, but “a lab fundamentally built for scientific intelligence to experiment, to play, and to learn.” They will undertake thousands of experiments simultaneously, systematically fueling humanity’s understanding and accelerating scientific progress. 

Scientists of the past used slide rules and microscopes.

Scientists of today also write code and build models.

Scientists of tomorrow will collaborate with Lila’s Scientific Superintelligence and AI Science Factories, tackling the biggest, boldest questions before reaching for their microscopes.

Lila will not just push science forward—it may just redefine the future of human knowledge itself, enabling a new model for national resilience.