London-based AI lab Inherent has emerged from stealth with a $50m round to build what it calls “AI-native science”, which it dubs a new approach to scientific research.
The company was founded by a team of former DeepMind researchers and infrastructure specialists. Tantum Collins, Edward Hughes and Louis Kirsch all previously worked at DeepMind, while Kaloyan Aleksiev previously worked at AI startup Reka AI and Microsoft. The round was led by venture firm Index Ventures with participation from Radical Ventures.
Inherent's AI platform "Faraday", named for famed English physicist Michael Faraday, aims to combine human scientific research with advanced AI systems in order to produce novel inventions and innovations.
"Most AI is built to answer questions. What it can't do (yet) is figure out which questions are worth asking — the open-ended curiosity that produced penicillin, the microwave, the GPU," said Danny Rimer, partner at Index Ventures. "That's the gap Inherent is building into."
Collins and Hughes previously collaborated on frontier research into cooperative AI at DeepMind, before Collins later moved into AI policy work at the Biden White House.
Early angel investors and hires include specialists in technical AI safety and democratic applications of AI. Former UK government AI tsar Matt Clifford has been recruited as an adviser.
"Teddy, Ed, Kally and Louis are some of the most impressive, thoughtful and ambitious founders I've met. Excited to see Inherent launch," Clifford wrote on X.
