On the Future of Species: Authoring Life by Means of Artificial Biological Intelligence with author Adrian Woolfson

April 7, 2026·44 min·4 clips

Adrian Woolfson imagines a future where we grow houses and smartphones are living organisms.

The science starts with distance. Wolfson describes genomes as systems where one DNA chemical can affect another far away, which makes AI-designed biology harder than a simple pattern match. The host picks up on that tension. He asks how those distant relationships can be identified, and how negative effects might be reduced once they are. Evo2 is the example. Wolfson says a genomic chatbot developed by his Stanford colleague Brian used the Strikes Hyena architecture to handle long-range genetic relationships. The context window matters because the model has to read individual DNA chemicals while tracking patterns across huge stretches of sequence. Wolfson expects that scale to keep growing as artificial biological intelligence learns to reason across genomes. Then the conversation takes a stranger turn. He compares the problem to quantum entanglement as a way to talk about action at a distance, while admitting how hard it is to grasp. The host follows carefully, holding onto both the wonder and the risk. This is careful futurism, not hype. AI-designed biology comes across as a field where technical architecture, living systems, and caution about negative impact all have to be handled together. By the end, the host thanks Wolfson for the conversation about On the Future of Species and points listeners to the book's April 28 release. The closing has warmth, but the uncertainty stays in the room.

As heard by us

A measured conversation about designing life, distance, and the responsibilities that come with both.

The discussion takes a careful look at how artificial biological intelligence has to account for DNA's action-at-a-distance effects, not just nearby parts.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want AI and biology explained through the strange problem of genomes acting at a distance.

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