The TikTok CEO believes that the true future of artificial intelligence extends beyond social media platforms into the horizons of radical scientific discovery and the development of advanced biological treatments.
Shou Chew’s vision and the future of scientific discoveries
ByteDance’s expansion and the Proteinix biological model
The role of artificial intelligence in platform management and search
Ethical alignment challenges and the risks of autonomous agents
Frequently asked questions
Shou Chew’s vision and the future of scientific discoveries
Shou Zi Chew, CEO of the global platform TikTok, predicted that humanity will witness major and tangible scientific breakthroughs thanks to artificial intelligence within the next two to three years. These statements came during his participation in the DBS Asian Insights Conference held in Singapore, sponsored by DBS Bank, on Monday, October 12, 2026.
Chew emphasized in his speech to business leaders and experts: “Over the next two or three years, we will see a real scientific breakthrough in the fields of physics, biotechnology, chemistry, and materials science thanks to smart computing capabilities; this matter has become very close and possible.” These expectations come at a time when major global companies are redirecting their technical investment compass from mere consumer entertainment application innovation to fields of basic scientific research and solving intractable natural dilemmas.
ByteDance’s expansion and the Proteinix biological model
Chew revealed that ByteDance, the Chinese group that owns TikTok, is building its own smart models and looking forward to expanding partnerships with leading researchers and scientists in universities and international centers. He said: “We are making intensive efforts to explore ways of cooperation with the scientific community to make tangible progress in advanced sciences, and we have already accomplished some promising projects in this field, which are very interesting paths.”
ByteDance’s Seed research team had launched “Proteinix v2” last April, an advanced system dedicated to predicting biological molecule structures and designing complex protein structures, which opens unprecedented horizons to accelerate the discovery and development of medicines and medical drugs. These steps match the escalating global momentum, as the US government, in cooperation with Meta and Google, announced last week a major $1.8 billion initiative to build smart models that predict the behavior of living cells to support biological research.
The role of artificial intelligence in platform management and search
The TikTok CEO explained that natural sciences represent one of the most useful and brightest applications of artificial intelligence, parallel to the radical changes these technologies are making within the TikTok platform itself. Modern algorithmic systems now control digital content production cycles, smart recommendation allocation, search engine development, moderation auditing, and violation enforcement with extreme real-time precision.
Chew urged caution and balance in evaluating this surge, pointing to a golden rule in technology: “I believe that in the short term, we often overestimate the capabilities of artificial intelligence and its direct results, but in the long term, we undoubtedly tend to underestimate the scale of its profound and transformative impacts on the lives of societies and economies.”
Ethical alignment challenges and the risks of autonomous agents
Chew warned that the accelerating pace of scientific progress imposes an urgent imperative to constrain super-intelligent systems within ethical standards and fixed human values, asking: “How do we ensure that complex machines are aligned to behave in a way that seems intuitive and ethical to us as humans?”
He also issued an explicit warning regarding cyber risks resulting from “autonomous agents,” explaining that granting users broad powers over such software without realizing its consequences could lead to unexpected incidents, such as an agent purchasing huge quantities of products exceeding the owner’s desire and budget while trying to accomplish a task. He also warned that model evolution provides hackers with low-cost and fast fraud tools, requiring digital platforms to develop superior cyber defenses to protect users from emerging risks.
Frequently asked questions
Question: What are the scientific disciplines in which the TikTok CEO expects breakthroughs to occur soon?
Answer: He specified the fields of biophysics, new material design, biochemistry, and biodrug discovery using advanced models for predicting molecular structures.
Question: What is the Proteinix v2 model developed by ByteDance?
Answer: It is a smart computational model developed by the ByteDance research team to predict biological molecular structures and design proteins to support medical and therapeutic research.
Question: What are the most prominent risks Chew warned about regarding autonomous agents?
Answer: He warned of the expansion of powers granted to agents without sufficient understanding by the user, which could lead to wrong financial decisions, in addition to the lower cost of launching cyber fraud attacks.
