For all of the frustrations artificial intelligence causes in the world of entertainment, the technology is proving to be rather useful in the realm of science. As per BBC News, it's reported that AI is being utilised in an effort of creating "fundamentally new" kinds of vaccines that will have broader applications, tackle multiple strains of a virus, and potentially be a way to combat the common flu, Ebola, and even Covid.
It's the team at the University of Cambridge who are using AI to develop new vaccines, with the process seeing AI develop a key component of a vaccine and then trialling it on humans. The aim is that instead of a vaccine targeting the current strain of a virus before it mutates and makes the vaccine obsolete or less impactful, this new style will be able to target all strains of a virus, potentially stamping out the next pandemic before it could ever take shape.
AI takes the genetic code of a virus and then proceeds to make a "super-antigen" that could train a human's immune system to be able to fight the various different strains of this virus instead of needing a new vaccine to be able to do so.
Speaking about the innovation, Professor Jonathan Heeney from the University of Cambridge has said that "this is a fundamental shift in how we prepare for pandemics" and that this is "about making vaccines that protect us, not just from today's viruses, but protect us from what can cause the next outbreak or disease."
So far, trials are currently focussed on small sample groups but there are plans to scale up in the near future for a second trial that includes 200 people, up from 39 in the first test.