AI solves super bug issues in two days that took scientists years

A decade-long complex problem that took microbiologists to go through ten years was solved in just two days with a new AI tool.

Professor Josel Penades and his team at Imperial College London have been proving and proofing why several superbugs are immune to antibiotics over the years.

He gave him a “co-scientist,” a tool created by Google. He gave him a short prompt asking about the core issues he was investigating, and in 48 hours he came to the same conclusion.

He told the BBC his shock when he found out that it had done, given that his research was not published because it was not published by the public domain AI system.

“I was shopping with someone, I said, ‘I’ll leave me alone for an hour, I need to digest this,'” he said on BBC Radio Four today. He told the program.

“I wrote an email to Google saying, ‘Do you have access to my computer, right?'” he added.

The tech giant has confirmed that it is not.

The entire decade spent by scientists also includes the time it took to prove a study that was in itself multi-year terms.

But they say that if they had hypothesized at the start of the project, they would have saved years of work.

Professor Penadés said the tool actually did more than replicating his research well.

“It’s not just that the number one hypothesis they offered was the correct one,” he said.

“It means they offer four more, and they all make sense.

“And for one of them, we never thought about it, and we’re working on it now.”

Researchers have tried to know how dangerous bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics can be created.

Their hypothesis is that superbugs can form tails from different viruses. This allows it to spread between species.

Professor Penades likened it to a superbug that has a “key.”

Critically, this hypothesis was unique to the research team and was not published anywhere else. No one on the team shared their findings.

So Penadés was pleased to use it to test Google’s new AI tools.

Just two days later, the AI ​​returned some hypotheses. And that first thought, the number one answer provided suggests that the superbug might take the tail in the way his research explained.

The impact of AI is hotly contested.

Its proponents say it will enable scientific advancement – others are worried that it will eliminate work.

Professor Penades said his “first reaction” was his fear of the impact on his work, but “If you think about it, it means you have a very powerful tool.” He said he understood why he added.

He said researchers on the project are confident that it will prove to be extremely useful in the future.

“I feel this definitely changes science,” Penades said.

“I’m in front of something spectacular and I’m so happy to be part of it.

“It’s like you have a chance to play a big game — I feel like I’m finally playing a Champions League match on this.”