AI Could Spark a Science Leap Soon, Says TikTok Boss

TikTok's boss Shou Chew believes AI will deliver a major science breakthrough soon. He thinks it could happen within the next two to three years. He lists physics, biotech, chemistry and new materials as the areas most likely to see progress. Chew says the chance of such a breakthrough feels very real to him.

He also cautions that we might be misjudging AI's current power. In the short term we could be giving it too much credit, while in the long term we might be selling it short. Chew notes that humans still outperform machines at recognizing subtle visual patterns. He adds that people are better at recalling memories that happened long ago.

Security concerns are another point he raises. Stronger AI models make it cheaper for bad actors to attack platforms like TikTok. He warns that giving an AI agent wide permissions can lead to unexpected behavior. For example, an agent allowed to buy things might purchase more than the user intended because it is eager to finish its task. On the corporate side, ByteDance builds its own AI tools. Its Seed team released Protenix-v2, a model that predicts protein shapes and helps design new molecules. The company also runs a drug‑discovery unit called Anew Labs.

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