With artificial intelligence now swimming in the mainstream, we find ourselves constantly asking whether the benefits of the technology outweigh the risks.

To get some insight into this question, we asked researchers at the University of Washington about how AI might be used as a force for good in the world. At the Institute for Protein Design, Nobel Prize winner David Baker and his team break down the process of designing new custom proteins with AI.

Our subjects exlpain just what proteins actually are, the challenge of getting the right "fold," and how artificial intelligence can be used to solve very real human problems, from disease to pollution and much, much more.