World’s first vaccine entirely designed by an AI heads to human trials

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By Matthew Griffin Intelligence and the Senses 22nd September 2019

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

There is a lot of hype about using AI to help design and discover new drugs, but we are starting to see results.

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Researchers often spend billions of dollars and countless hours developing new drugs, only for the vast majority to fail long before they reach human trials. And in recent years some of those developers have started exploring ways to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help them discover new drugs, with one such AI designing 30,000 new drug combinations in just 21 days, some of which showed a lot of promise. Now though, in another development, one of those AI’s has managed to develop a promising new flu vaccine — all by itself.

The team then synthesized some of SAM’s top candidates and tested them on human blood cells in a lab. One of those candidates was a flu vaccine “turbocharger” that later proved incredibly effective in animals.

Clinical trials of the new vaccine in human patients have now kicked off all across the US, and if they go as hoped, we could be entering an era of fewer flus – and more AI developed drugs.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.

An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.

Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.