Google DeepMind and Meta Join Biohub's $1.8 Billion AI Biology Push

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Meta Platforms have made a significant investment in artificial intelligence (AI) biology research through their joint funding of Biohub’s Virtual Biology Initiative. The initiative aims to develop accurate predictive models of cell behavior using data from experiments conducted across various conditions.

The combined $300 million contribution from Alphabet’s drug discovery unit Isomorphic Labs, Google DeepMind, and Meta will be used to support the development of AI models that can predict how cells respond in different situations. This is part of a larger effort led by Biohub, which has already received commitments totaling $1.8 billion.

The Virtual Biology Initiative involves measuring cell responses across numerous conditions using advanced technologies such as machine learning algorithms and high-performance computing. The data collected will be used to train AI models that can accurately predict how cells behave in various scenarios.

Biohub’s head of science, Alex Rives, explained the reasoning behind the one-year embargo on commercially funded datasets: ‘We have to have some incentive for commercial players to be a part of this, and the embargo period creates that.’ This means that companies participating in the initiative will get access to data before it is made public.

The funding breakdown shows that Biohub has committed $500 million, while the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health have also pledged significant amounts: more than $500 million each over five years. The combined investment from Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs, and Meta totals $300 million.

It’s worth noting that this investment is relatively small compared to Alphabet and Meta’s overall research budgets. In 2025 alone, Alphabet spent a staggering $91.45 billion on capital expenditures (capex), while Meta invested $69.69 billion in capex. Both companies have significantly increased their R&D spending since 2021.

Alphabet’s total R&D expenditure over the last 12 months was $68.97 billion, with Meta following closely behind at $71.63 billion. Together, they spent an astonishing $140.6 billion on research and development in 2025. To put this into perspective, their combined daily R&D budget is approximately $385 million.

Isomorphic Labs, Alphabet’s drug discovery unit, stands to benefit the most from the Virtual Biology Initiative due to its focus on developing AI models for predicting cell behavior. The company has already established partnerships with pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Novartis, and it raised an additional $600 million in funding from outside investors earlier this year.

The real value of participating companies’ early access to data lies not just in the datasets themselves but also in the time they gain before those datasets become public. This head start allows them to train their AI models more effectively and potentially develop new treatments or products sooner.