Former DeepMind Researchers Raise $50 Million to Build AI That Judges Which Scientific Questions Are Worth Asking

London-based AI lab Inherent has emerged from stealth mode with a $50 million seed round co-led by Index Ventures and Radical Ventures. The round also included participation from Nvidia's venture capital arm, NVentures, among other investors.

The founding team consists of researchers from DeepMind, Microsoft, and Reka AI. In particular, co-founder Tantum Collins previously worked on AI policy in the Biden administration's White House, giving the team both technical capability and policy expertise.

Inherent is building a platform called Faraday. The platform's goal is not simply to answer questions quickly, but to judge which scientific questions are actually worth asking in the first place. This is an attempt to embody in AI the kind of 'open curiosity' that led to discoveries such as penicillin or the GPU.

Faraday works as follows:

• It combines human researchers with self-improving AI agents.
• AI agents explore hypothesis spaces that are difficult for humans to reach, and do so faster.
• Humans provide the judgment, discernment, and ethical guidelines that AI cannot.

Inherent has adopted a Public Benefit Corporation structure, which requires it to consider social impact alongside shareholder returns. This reflects its intent to use governance as a competitive advantage rather than a constraint.