Superbugs meet their match in generative AI-designed drugs

Some today fear that artificial intelligence will one day destroy humanity. But if the rise of the machines doesn’t get us, drug-resistant bacteria just might. These microscopic killers already claim millions of lives each year worldwide, and the world’s arsenal of effective antibiotics is dwindling.

But could one threat be trained perhaps to help stave off the other? A study published today in the journal Cell certainly suggests the possibility. A team led by Jim Collins, MIT professor of biological engineering, showed how generative AI algorithms trained on vast datasets of antibacterial substances could dream up millions of previously unimagined molecules with predicted microbe-killing power—some of which proved potent in mouse experiments.

Continue reading at IEEE Spectrum.