ISTANBUL

Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife announced on US social media platform Facebook that they are beginning an initiative to integrate artificial intelligence to help scientists cure diseases.

Zuckerberg underlined Thursday that The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will focus on building a Biohub as a first research organization combining frontier AI and biology.

“We are bringing together leading AI researchers, scientists, massive computer clusters, and the largest human cell data sets to create virtual cells and virtual immune systems to help advance science,” said Zuckerberg.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a nonprofit launched in 2015 by the Zuckerbergs, aims to solve “social problems from curing or preventing disease to improving education and addressing the needs of local communities.”

The new direction narrows the scope of the philanthropic organization.

Zuckerberg is one of the high-profile tech figures who has scaled back diversity, equality, and fact-checking initiatives since US President Donald Trump took office in January.

Earlier, media reports said the organization ended up supporting housing nonprofits and stopped funding an elementary school that provided education and health care to children from low-income families.

Meta Platforms announced plans Friday to spend $600 billion in the US in the next three years, primarily to develop AI data centers and create jobs.

"By building in the US, we’re not only advancing AI technology and infrastructure, but also creating jobs, supporting local economies, and reinforcing America’s technological leadership," it said.

"As the importance of AI grows, so will the importance of data centers. We’ll continue to build and scale infrastructure for the future of AI while supporting the communities that host us," it added.

The company said in October that it is laying off 600 workers in its AI unit.​​​​​​​