The Shanghai Academy of Artificial Intelligence for Science (SAIS) expanded its AI-for-science ecosystem on March 1 with an upgraded NovaInspire platform and the launch of the "Dasheng" AI agent.

"Dasheng" is designed to support research in fields such as life sciences, earth sciences, and the humanities. Organizers said it can break down research projects, carry out tasks based on natural-language instructions, coordinate multiple tools, and handle complex processes in parallel.

"Dasheng" is part of the NovaInspire platform jointly developed by SAIS, Fudan University, and a Shanghai-based tech company INF. The platform made its debut at the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and now integrates over 400 scientific models and tools, as well as 22 petabytes of high-value data and 500 million papers and patent records.

SAIS was established in 2023 by the Shanghai municipal government and Fudan University as a new R&D institute focused on AI for science, alongside the Computing for the Future at Fudan cloud-based research computing platform.

SAIS is committed to using AI to address key scientific problems in high-value industrial applications. It has developed several vertical scientific large models, such as the "Suiren" material model focused on materials science, the "NvwaCE" life model for drug design, the "Fuxi" weather model in earth sciences, and PI@Climate, a climate model trained on data from over 10 primary disciplines. As China's independently developed large language model for climate science, PI@Climate is providing intelligent support for climate research, international climate negotiations, and policy-making.

SAIS continues to promote integration across humanities, sciences, medicine, engineering, and innovation research. It has established collaborations with 43 research teams at Fudan University, supporting 18 interdisciplinary centers for AI in science.

The institute also aims to create a hub for young innovators. It has gathered a multidisciplinary team with an average age of 33. Among them, 31 percent come from overseas universities and top AI laboratories, while 40 percent have abundant engineering experience from leading tech companies. The institute has set up a "research corner", where young researchers who share their ideas can get a free drink.

To attract talent, the institute provides research teams with high-quality computing resources and greater flexibility, helping turn new ideas into practice and giving researchers room to grow.

SAIS is also supporting the commercialization of AI for science by incubating startups such as "Gewu Zhiyan" and "Fuxi Zhisuan", while supporting companies like INF in product development.

By hosting events like the World Al4S Prize and science camps, SAIS is now attracting more young professionals and cross-disciplinary partners, developing a new ecosystem for AI-driven scientific research and building a world-class hub for AI in science.

Sources: Official WeChat account of the Shanghai International Talent Center (ID: "sh-italent"), Shanghai Observer, People's Daily