Periodic Labs: A chatbot walks into a laboratory
Periodic Labs: A chatbot walks into a laboratory  
Podcast: The Generalist
Published On: Tue Sep 29 2026
Description: Liam Fedus and Dogus Cubuk are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Periodic Labs, a startup building “synthesis superintelligence.” In practice, that means an AI system that closes the loop between hypothesis, experiment, and learning.Liam previously led post-training at OpenAI, where he was one of the creators of ChatGPT. Dogus spent years at Google DeepMind leading a large team of chemists and materials scientists. Together, they’ve brought those two trajectories to bear on a problem that has stymied science for decades: not just discovering new materials, but making them reliably and at scale.In this conversation, we explore the limits of language models, the commercialization bottleneck in materials science, why Periodic chose high-temperature superconductors as its first target, and what Liam learned from watching ChatGPT go from an internal product to one of the most successful products of all time.—Every timestamp(00:00) Intro(02:05) Periodic’s mission(03:14) What it takes to build a synthetic superintelligence(04:48) Why “thinkism” falls short(05:46) Why Periodic is pursuing high-temperature superconductors(07:21) How Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity(09:36) Why synthesizing new materials is so difficult(16:44) Dogus’s path to AI(20:18) Liam’s path to AI(23:28) Lessons from launching ChatGPT(25:24) Why Dogus and Liam chose each other(27:01) How Periodic attracts top talent(29:50) Inside an experimental loop at Periodic(35:10) What AI learns across experiments(40:10) What Periodic builds versus buys(44:37) Balancing diversity and depth across experiments(49:23) The difference in LLM performance on math vs. science(51:26) Why Periodic doesn’t depend on better models(53:20) Periodic’s short-term goals(54:09) The competitive landscape(55:39) Final meditations—Liam and Dogus’s complete reading list• The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (recommended by Liam): https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Infinity-Explanations-Transform-World/dp/0143121359• Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein (recommended by Dogus): https://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Lord-Science-Albert-Einstein/dp/0192806726—Other resources• Periodic Labs: https://periodic.com• Bell Labs: https://www.nokia.com/bell-labs• QBasic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QBasic• Google DeepMind: https://deepmind.google• Google Brain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Brain• OpenAI: https://openai.com—Where to find Liam FedusLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-fedus-26547811X: https://x.com/LiamFedus—Where to find Dogus CubukLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekin-dogus-cubuk-9148b8114X: https://x.com/ekindogus—Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email jordan@penname.co. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.generalist.com/subscribe