AI for Cancer Treatment

Isomorphic Labs, a drug discovery company spun out of Google DeepMind, is set to take a big step. The company, which has grand ambitions to “solve all diseases” with AI, is about to begin human clinical trials for its AI-designed oncology drugs. Pointing out that the trials of its drugs are about to commence, the company’s President Colin Murdoch told Fortune: “There are people sitting in our office in London, collaborating with AI to design drugs for cancer right now.”

Built on DeepMind’s AlphaFold, which can predict the complex behaviour of DNA and RNA, Isomorphic Labs promises to transform the nature of drug discovery and research. The current drug development process tends to be time-consuming and expensive, and only a very small fraction of the medicines being worked on will actually go into production. The firm is betting that this will change as AI evolves. According to it, the whole process of discovering and designing new drugs will soon happen through computers, making the process quicker and cheaper. Isomorphic Labs has been partnering with several big pharmaceutical firms, and these partnerships have helped support existing drug programmes, while also advancing its own research.

AI-designed drugs entering human trials represent an important milestone in medical science. If successful, it could revolutionise how medicines are
developed and possibly save countless lives.

Offline App

A new messaging app has arrived, and unlike others, it does not require internet connectivity. Called Bitchat, the app developed by former Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, relies on Bluetooth. It works by enabling communication between nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices, with every device on the network acting as a node, helping extend the range. What could add to its appeal is that unlike others it is a decentralised platform.

Community Notes Gets AI

Community Notes, the community-driven content moderation system, may have been largely successful at dealing with misinformation on X, but the social media platform is now looking to reshape it. X has announced a pilot programme that will allow developers to create AI bots capable of writing Community Notes. While bots will be more efficient in churning out notes, AI chatbots’ tendency to ‘hallucinate’ is cause for concern.

Robo Chef

The video of a humanoid robot from Chinese firm Shenzhen Dobot cooking steak, while being remotely controlled by an operator using a VR headset 1,800km away, went viral recently. The video shows how rapidly the technology behind these robots is developing. It even managed tasks like sprinkling salt on the steak. The robot is already out in the market, becoming one of the first to reach mass production.

About The Author

Lhendup G Bhutia

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