AI vs Biotech: Tech Trends In The Mainstream

ChatGPT and AI-powered image generators like DALL-E and Midjourney are surging in interest on social media and in the news. As AI hits the mainstream, we wondered:

What about biotech? Why hasn’t biotech reached the mainstream in the same fashion as AI?

Despite its progress and the way it already touches most of our lives, it is surprising that most people are not aware of the presence of biotechnology.

Perhaps marketing, accessibility, and ethics are preventing awareness. 

Take the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, for example. Developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has dominated news headlines since 2020, vaccines are the product of biotechnology. And yet, unlike AI’s rise in 2022, biotechnology did not become a trending topic in 2020. 

Perhaps, this is because the biopharmaceutical companies that developed and distributed the vaccines shied away from the biotech label. Is that because the legacy of biotechnology and ”genetically modified organisms“ is marred with controversy? 

Part of being human is predicting and planning for the worst-case scenario. A key component of survival is to anticipate challenges before they arrive. We fear things that we don’t understand. 

Biotech is no stranger to controversy because it’s close to us, and let’s face it, it's complicated. 

We are a product of biology and nature is delicate. When some people think of biotech, they think of bioengineered humans, cloning, and genetically engineered superplagues. The picture of biotech often painted by the media is bleak and dystopian, for example, ”What if CRISPR falls into the wrong hands?“

The reality of the biotech industry is hopeful and exciting.

Real progress is being made every day. Cultured meat created from animal cells in vitro could one day make the animal agriculture industry, one of the major contributors to climate change, obsolete, while still allowing us to enjoy our beef burgers. Neurotech is allowing patients with locked-in syndrome to communicate with their loved ones, giving paralyzed patients mobility and independence. Gene therapy can provide a one-time cure for many genetic diseases. Bioengineered and biomimetic ingredients are changing the scope of the beauty industry. Boots made of biomanufactured leather alternatives may quickly become the norm. 

In reality, biotechnology is a vehicle for progress, not a one-way ticket to a dystopian future.

So how do we shift the narrative? 

One key is accessibility. Almost anyone with a computer can use Midjourney to create a beautiful custom image (as you’ll see throughout this post). Almost anyone with an internet connection can use ChatGPT to generate a poem or answer a question. Anyone can ask Siri or Alexa about today’s weather. 

So where is the biotech equivalent? Cheese and yogurt, wine and beer, and fermented products like kimchi and kombucha are accessible, everyday products of biotechnology. But they are not hands-on. 

Biotechnology is not as simple as putting in an input and generating an output. Nature is more complicated, and it takes time, resources, and space to ”do“ biology. 

We need a user-friendly, hands-on method of drawing new audiences to engage with biotechnology.

On the other hand, is mainstream notoriety really needed? Paul Freemont, Head of the Section of Structural and Synthetic Biology at Imperial College and friend of the Grow Everything podcast, recently said: ”Success is silent,“ and becoming “trendy“ certainly has its pitfalls.

We’ve watched the word ”sustainability“ become more popular with consumers, with many companies opting for more environmentally-friendly policies to meet the increasing urgency surrounding climate change. But the rise of greenwashing - false marketing of sustainability toward consumers - has paralleled this rise. The more companies that become sustainable, the more the word loses its weight. Do we want the same for biotech?

The truth is that while AI continues to be the face of new technology and the digital age, we are living in the Biotech Century. Biotech is continuing to make progress behind the headlines, delivering products to improve our everyday lives and providing solutions to the most pressing problems in medicine, the environment, beauty, fashion, and more. 

Despite the alarmist narratives that may exist, the train isn’t stopping - bioeconomy leaders, scientists, and storytellers will continue to deliver.

The world of biotech can work quietly if need be because innovation speaks for itself.