But more than a year later, the former Googler and AI naysayer is back to betting on the technology\u2019s ability to transform the world for the better.<\/p>\n
Cambridge-founded CuspAI has emerged from stealth with a $30 million seed funding round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The company will help users design next-gen building materials through deep learning and molecular simulation, streamlining design. In a major coup, it has won the approval of Hinton, a prominent AI skeptic.<\/p>\n
Hinton has agreed to serve as an advisor on CuspAI\u2019s board. His statement accompanying the announcement was appropriately conflicted, thanks to the group\u2019s use of a technology that defined Hinton\u2019s life and career.<\/p>\n
\u201cHumanity will face many challenges in the coming decade. Some will be caused by AI while others can be solved by AI,\u201d Hinton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been very impressed by CuspAI and its mission to accelerate the design process of new materials using AI to curb one of humanity\u2019s most urgent challenges\u2014climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Professor](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/MixCollage-17-Jun-2024-05-33-PM-75.jpg?w=1440&q=75\"\/)
CuspAI emerges from stealth<\/h2>\n
CuspAI plans to use search engine-style functionalities to identify the properties needed for new building materials on demand, aiding their discovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine a search engine not just for existing materials, but for all potential molecules and materials that could be created,\u201d said Professor Max Welling, co-founder and chief AI officer at CuspAI.<\/p>\n
The co-founders hope that in the process, CuspAI can help to offset an emerging ill from the rapid uptake of AI\u2014its prohibitive levels of carbon emissions<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n As fellow co-founder and CEO Dr Chad Edwards outlines, CuspAI wants its technology to contribute to the world\u2019s growing carbon capture and storage capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe AI revolution is itself creating new challenges, including rapidly increasing energy consumption and carbon emissions from data centers,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur technology can help mitigate this impact by designing materials that efficiently capture carbon dioxide.\u201d<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s chief AI scientist, Yann Le Cun, said the tech giant was planning to partner with CuspAI to accelerate its discovery of new materials for carbon capture.<\/p>\n CuspAI\u2019s $30 million round was led by Hoxton Ventures and had \u201csignificant participation\u201d from Basis Set Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2022, Hoxton raised a $215 million fund<\/a> to back European startups. It has form for backing successful European growth companies like Deliveroo and Darktrace.<\/p>\n CuspAI\u2019s capital raise is the latest significant investment in AI from a venture capital group in the last 18 months as investors scramble<\/a> to catch the wave of tomorrow\u2019s growth leaders.<\/p>\n Hinton, 76, left his role at Google in May last year with an exclusive interview for the New York Times<\/em>, in which he appeared to lament his life\u2019s work while warning of AI\u2019s future dangers to humanity.<\/p>\n Since then, Hinton\u2019s press appearances have only seen him double down on this stance.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an interview with 60 Minutes <\/em>last October, he suggested rogue AI would learn to manipulate its users<\/a> by learning the works of Machiavelli and other \u201cpolitical connivances.\u201d<\/p>\n He also worries about AI\u2019s impact on the labor market, telling BBC Newsnight<\/em> in May that he thought a universal basic income would be required to address the replacement of many \u201cmundane jobs<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, though, it appears Hinton sees promise in CuspAI\u2019s use of the technology to at least combat climate change, even as he meditates on the technology\u2019s other existential threats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe Godfather returns<\/h2>\n