AI researchers aim to automate the process of groundbreaking scientific findings
In the realm of scientific discovery, the volume of unread literature has long been a barrier to progress. However, a new AI platform called FutureHouse aims to change this by automating critical steps in the scientific process.
Founded in 2022 by Sam Rodriques PhD '19 and Andrew White, FutureHouse was born out of a shared vision to scale scientific productivity. Rodriques, co-founder and CEO, emphasizes the importance of natural language in science, highlighting its role in hypothesis generation, communication, and reasoning.
The FutureHouse platform has already found a home in institutions such as the Max Planck Society and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, where it is being used in research workflows. The goal of FutureHouse is straightforward: to address declining scientific productivity.
To achieve this, FutureHouse is developing AI agents for various tasks. These include information retrieval, literature synthesis, experimental design, chemical synthesis planning, and data analysis. The first tools released by FutureHouse were PaperQA, an AI assistant for scientific literature, and Has Anyone, which checks whether specific experiments or hypotheses have already been explored.
One of the standout achievements of FutureHouse is the development of a multi-agent pipeline that identified a new therapeutic candidate for dry age-related macular degeneration. This demonstrates the potential of FutureHouse's AI agents to make significant contributions to scientific research.
In comparative studies, FutureHouse agents have outperformed general-purpose AI tools in systematic reviews of genes associated with Parkinson's disease. One researcher even used the tools to identify a gene potentially linked to polycystic ovary syndrome and form a new treatment hypothesis.
The vision for FutureHouse is to create agents that can use domain-specific tools, reason across disciplines, and accelerate discovery without requiring users to manage every technical detail. The lab believes that automating or accelerating these core steps will make the research pipeline more efficient.
FutureHouse also plans to embed agents with tacit knowledge and allow them to interact with other computational models, including those used in biology and physics. The ultimate goal is to create a seamless scientific assistant that can reason across multiple domains.
FutureHouse's platform is now publicly available at platform.futurehouse.org. The literature search agents will integrate with data analysis, hypothesis generation, and experimental planning agents, creating a comprehensive tool for scientific research.
In June 2025, FutureHouse released ether0, a 24-billion parameter open-weights reasoning model for chemistry. This addition further strengthens the platform's capabilities in scientific research.
Rodriques's inspiration for FutureHouse came from his realization that even if the scientific community had discovered how the brain works, the knowledge would remain hidden due to the vast volume of unread literature. With FutureHouse, he aims to change that, making scientific discovery more accessible and efficient.
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