Mark and Priscilla Zuckerberg's the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has acquired Meta. The AI-assisted academic search engine is meant to help bolster the project's scientific credentials.

On Monday, the Zuckerberg's announced that researchers are allowed to access the search engine tool for free. The purchase marks the latest step in the initiative's goal of eradicating diseases within the next century. The Facebook founder's family has already pledged to donate $3 billion for medical research.

According to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, opening up a powerful collaborative tool such as Meta dramatically increases the acceleration of scientific breakthroughs. It would give vital research access for the communities involved in the projects.

Meta uses AI neural networks; its computing systems are modeled on the human brain. The AI-assisted search engine is fed vast amounts of data until they become autonomous. It finds, assesses and connects millions of peer-reviewed articles related to the searched topic.

According to Meta CEO Sam Molyneux, the next step is to enable developers to integrate the tool into third-party platforms and services. The CEO shares that the company is privileged to join and collaborate with the Zuckerberg family.

Cori Bargmann and Brian Pinkerton are ecstatic about the platform's potential. Bargmann is the President of Science and Pinkerton is the Chief Technology Officer of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

According to the executives, a researcher could use Meta to help identify emerging techniques for understanding various diseases. A graduate student could now have the ability to use a vast library of information optimized by Meta.

Earlier this month, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative made two key hires. The project hired David Plouffe, a former campaign manager or Barrack Obama and Ken Mehlman, a key person in the Republican National Committee.

Plouffe will lead the project's policy and advocacy effort. Mehlman has been assigned in leading he company's political advisory board.