AI drug research algorithm flipped to invent 40,000 biochemical weapons

Toxic Molecules

We often hear about the benefits artificial intelligence (AI) can bring to medicine and healthcare through drug research, but could it also pose a threat?

Researchers from Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, a North Carolina-based drug discovery company, have published a paper that highlights the dangerous potential of AI and machine learning to discover biochemical weapons.

By simply tweaking a machine learning model called MegaSyn to reward instead of penalise predicted...

23 March 2022 | Applications

Microsoft acquires Nuance to usher in ‘new era of outcomes-based AI’

Microsoft has completed its acquisition of Siri backend creator Nuance in a bumper deal that it says will usher in a “new era of outcomes-based AI”.

“Completion of this significant and strategic acquisition brings together Nuance’s best-in-class conversational AI and ambient intelligence with Microsoft’s secure and trusted industry cloud offerings,” said Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud + AI Group at Microsoft. 

“This powerful...

8 March 2022 | Artificial Intelligence

The NHS can now access ‘pioneering’ AI stroke diagnosis software

NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) has announced a procurement framework for "pioneering" AI software to diagnose strokes.

Breakthroughs in medical AIs are helping to reduce patient suffering, the likelihood and/or severity of long-term complications, and even save lives across a number of ailments.

Some of the benefits from medical AI breakthroughs are achieved through improved understanding leading to better treatment, while others are due to reducing the amount of...

7 March 2022 | Applications

EU clears $19.7B Microsoft-Nuance deal without any small print

The EU has concluded Microsoft’s $19.7 billion acquisition of Nuance doesn’t pose competition concerns.

Nuance gained renown for originally creating the backend of that little old virtual assistant called Siri (you might have heard of it?)

The company has since continued to focus on building its speech recognition capabilities and has a number of solutions which span particular industries such as healthcare to general omni-channel customer experience...

22 December 2021 | Artificial Intelligence

Four major impacts of artificial intelligence on healthcare

Medical technology is on the brink of being revolutionized by artificial intelligence (AI). In nearly every area of patient care, from chronic diseases and cancer to radiography and risk assessment, the potential of AI to deliver more accurate, efficient, and effective therapies at precisely the appropriate time in a patient's care is almost limitless. As payment systems change, patients expect more from their providers, and the amount of accessible data continues to grow at an alarming...

2 November 2021 | Healthcare

UK health secretary hopes AI projects can tackle racial inequality

UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid has greenlit a series of AI-based projects that aim to tackle racial inequalities in the NHS.

Racial inequality continues to be rampant in healthcare. Examining the fallout of COVID-19 serves as yet another example of the disparity between ethnicities.

In England and Wales, males of Black African ethnic background had the highest rate of death involving COVID-19, 2.7 times higher than males of a White ethnic background. Females of Black...

20 October 2021 | Ethics & Society

DeepMind hit with class-action lawsuit over NHS health data scandal

DeepMind is facing a class-action lawsuit over its controversial use of NHS patients’ health data back in 2015.

Google-owned DeepMind was quietly given the personal records of 1.6 million patients at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

DeepMind said that it was using the data to create a potentially life-saving app called Streams. The app was designed to alert, diagnose, and detect when patients were at risk of developing acute kidney injury. It’s currently...

1 October 2021 | Ethics & Society

National Robotarium pioneers AI and telepresence robotic tech for remote health consultations

The National Robotarium, hosted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, has unveiled an AI-powered telepresence robotic solution for remote health consultations.

Using the solution, health practitioners would be able to assess a person’s physical and cognitive health from anywhere in the world. Patients could access specialists no matter whether they’re based in the UK, India, the US, or anywhere else.

Iain Stewart, UK Government Minister for Scotland,...

20 September 2021 | Healthcare

DeepMind releases AlphaFold database of nearly all human protein structures

British artificial intelligence giant DeepMind has released a database of nearly all human protein structures that it amassed as part of its AlphaFold program.

Last year, the organisers of the biennial Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction (CASP) recognised AlphaFold as a solution to the grand challenge of figuring out what shapes proteins fold into.

Professor John Moult, Co-founder and Chair of CASP, University of Maryland, said:

“We have been...

23 July 2021 | Healthcare

NVIDIA launches UK supercomputer to search for healthcare solutions

NVIDIA supercomputer

Nvidia’s ‘Cambridge-1’ is now operational and utilising AI and simulation to advance research in healthcare.

The UK’s most powerful supercomputer and among the world’s top fifty, Cambridge-1 was announced by the technology company in October last year and cost $100 million (£72m) to build.

Its first projects with AstraZeneca, GSK, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies include developing a...

12 July 2021 | Healthcare