Why AI Medical Research Needs Vast Computing Power and Where Nebius AI Cloud Fits In

65 billion dollars. That is roughly what Nebius was worth on the stock market when we recorded this episode. Yet most people have never heard of it. So what does the company actually do, and why are scientists using its computing power to search for new treatments?

Dr Ilya Burkov, Global Head of Scientific AI and Healthcare at Nebius, joins Beyond Longevity to explain how AI is being used in research and what happens behind the scenes when a biotech company needs far more computing power than it has in its own lab. Ilya has a PhD in medicine and worked in medical research before moving into technology at Amazon Web Services. He joined Nebius in 2024.

We talk about the difference between asking ChatGPT a question and using AI to investigate a potential drug. Ilya explains why access to computing power matters, what Nebius provides to research teams and large companies, and why a calculation that takes two days on a lab’s own equipment could take just 23 minutes with more powerful computing.

We also discuss AlphaFold, the protection of research data and intellectual property, and the limits of AI in drug discovery. If AI points scientists towards a promising molecule but cannot explain why it chose it, has it made a discovery? And could the same tools help us understand something as complicated as ageing?

Nebius Cloud for Scientific AI and Healthcare:

https://nebius.com/solutions/life-sciences-and-healthcare

Dr Ilya Burkov on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyaburkov/

00:00 Can AI Discover Without Understanding?

00:55 Meet Dr Ilya Burkov

02:08 Can AI Speed Up Scientific Research?

03:47 Why Did Dr Ilya Move from the Lab into Technology?

06:06 How Is Scientific AI Different from ChatGPT?

08:55 What Does AI Drug Discovery Actually Mean?

11:36 Why Do Biotech Investors Ask About Computing Power?

13:04 What Does Nebius Actually Do?

16:36 Does Nebius Provide the Kitchen or Help with the Cooking?

18:02 Why Does Biotech Need a Specialist AI Cloud?

20:48 How Are Researchers Using Nebius in Practice?

32:25 How Are Data and IP Protected in the Cloud?

33:47 What Did AlphaFold Change About Protein Folding?

37:43 Does AI Understand What It Discovers?

39:30 Is Ageing Perfect for AI or a Complete Nightmare?

44:35 How Do Europe, the US and Asia Regulate AI?

47:57 Why Are Companies Reserving Computing Power Early?

49:59 Rapid-Fire Questions

52:52 Closing Takeaways