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Chan zuckerberg initiative goes all-in on AI and health research

Why the organisation is cutting jobs to focus on using artificial intelligence to tackle disease

01-Feb-2026

Key points from article :

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), the organisation set up by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, is changing its priorities. In early 2026, CZI announced job cuts affecting about 8% of its staff. This happened because the organisation is narrowing its focus rather than trying to work on many different social issues at once.

CZI is now putting most of its time, money and effort into science and technology, especially biomedical research and artificial intelligence (AI). Instead of funding a wide range of projects in areas like education, housing and criminal justice, it wants to concentrate on understanding how diseases work and how to treat or prevent them. A key part of this plan is the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a group of research centres that work closely with universities and scientists.

The organisation believes AI can make medical research much faster and more powerful, for example by helping scientists analyse huge amounts of biological data. Because of this shift, CZI is looking to hire more scientists and AI specialists, while roles that do not fit the new direction have been reduced. Overall, the article shows how CZI is moving from being a broad social-change charity to one that is mainly focused on using AI and science to improve human health.

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Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago

Non-profit biomedical research centre

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Investments, AI in Medical Research