【T. D. Lee Special Colloquium】AI Scientist: An AI Paradigm for Autonomous Scientific Discovery

by Dr Kai Liu (CATL（宁德时代）)

Thursday 16 Apr 2026, 14:00 → 15:00 Asia/Shanghai

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/S5F-S500 - Lecture Hall (Tsung-Dao Lee Institute)

Host: Prof. Ning Zhou (周宁)

Abstract：

Artificial intelligence is transforming from a tool into a core driver of scientific discovery. The AI for Science (AI4Science) paradigm has achieved breakthroughs across fields: aiding molecular generation in drug discovery, accelerating material design, and even assisting in theorem proving. 
This report introduces core concepts of AI and AGI, outlining AI4Science's technical approaches and practical applications in drug and materials research. It shares industry insights on building integrated R&D systems that close the loop between data, models, and experiments. The discussion then explores the emerging "AI Scientist" paradigm. Centered on large models and AI agents, it aims to construct autonomous discovery systems capable of hypothesis generation, reasoning, simulation, and experimental design. This approach seeks to connect fundamental research with practical applications, significantly boosting scientific exploration efficiency. Finally, the report presents the vision of the Academy of Scientific AGI, detailing its focus on foundational models, AI agents, autonomous labs, and scientific algorithms. It discusses pathways for industry-academia collaboration to transition AI from a supportive tool to a true scientific engine in energy and materials science.

Biography：

Dr. Liu Kai is the Chief AI Scientist of CATL, in charge of establishing the CATL Academy of Scientific Artificial General Intelligence (Sci-AGI), and exploring ways to leverage artificial intelligence to accelerate human scientific discovery in physics, mathematics, chemistry and materials science.

Prior to joining CATL, he served as Vice President of Artificial Intelligence at SES AI in the United States, where he built a full-process AI system for electrolyte material molecular discovery. He also worked as Director of Artificial Intelligence at Genentech, leading AI-driven drug R&D research. His research interests cover large language models, AI agents, and full-process research on AI-powered drug and materials discovery.

Dr. Liu earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Peking University, a master’s degree in Robotics from the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and subsequently a PhD in Neuroscience and a master’s degree in Machine Learning from Johns Hopkins University in the United States.