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I'm trying to think of a better title and am blanking right now, but it's the "-created" that annoys me - it implies that they fed a bunch of data into a black
by natechols 7y ago
I'm trying to think of a better title and am blanking right now, but it's the "-created" that annoys me - it implies that they fed a bunch of data into a black box and a molecule popped out ready for human testing. What really happened, according to the BBC article, is they enhanced a standard virtual screening pipeline with AI. This is a totally useful and legitimate thing to do and I'm sure it has some cost savings, but they're hand-waving past all of the human labor that is unavoidable in drug discovery.
- derefr 7y agoFeels like the whole article is buying the lede, then. The news story is really something like "AI accelerates drug discovery pipeline—new drugs will now come faster." The fact that one such drug is in human trials is kind of irrelevant.
- natechols 7y agoYes, and the more general form of this ("computers accelerate drug discovery pipeline") has been appearing almost as long as I've been alive.