“I think we're going to have AGI before we have a virtual cell.”
Žiga Avsec, November 2026
Google DeepMind: The Podcast
Things People Say
sputnikintelligence.com
sputnikintelligence.com
Hannah Fry asked how many years it might take to reach a virtual cell, a model that can simulate how a cell responds to genetic changes or drugs. The AlphaGenome researcher's answer is a striking measure of how hard biology still is, even compared with general AI.
Google DeepMind: The Podcast
Around 39:03 into the episode
Hannah Fry
that was going to be my next question. Many, many.
Speaker 4
It could be many years, but
Speaker 3
I think we're going to have AGI before we have a virtual cell. Right.
Hannah Fry
That's my prediction. I think you're probably right. Intelligence is less hard than biology. It seems like, yeah. Amazing. Thank you both so much. That was so interesting. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Yeah. I really liked what they said about biology being humbling because it's hard. The goal…
Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.