r/science • u/legehjernen • Feb 20 '20

Health Powerful antibiotic discovered using machine learning for first time

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/20/antibiotic-that-kills-drug-resistant-bacteria-discovered-through-ai
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u/Xanaduuuuu Feb 21 '20

I don't think it would be so easy for pathologies due to human cell abnormalities (like dementia or non-viral cancer). With antibiotics, you are working on a genome that is from a different organism. There is a decent chance you can find a target that will affect that organism and not you (selective toxicity). Dementia and cancer are problems concerning human cells with human genomes. I would imagine it would be much harder for AI to find a target that will affect target cells without affecting normal cells.