3 ms·

Whenever you see the words "AI" and "ushering" in a headline, you can be sure it's mostly BS. All you have to do to write one of these articles is wildly extrap

Whenever you see the words "AI" and "ushering" in a headline, you can be sure it's mostly BS. All you have to do to write one of these articles is wildly extrapolate from very modest current systems to completely unfounded speculative miracles in the future. Could Alpha Fold eventually lead to some drugs that help real patients live longer or better lives? Sure...maybe...or maybe not. Maybe literally nothing will come from this technology, except some great headlines for companies claiming to have created a "wholly-AI-designed drug", whatever the hell that actually means.

mensetmanusman 4y ago
This is actually an appropriate use of the word ushering. We finally have great uses for all these transistors:)
andreyk 4y ago
AlphaFold already has 3000 citations... For instance "A structural biology community assessment of AlphaFold 2 applications" which states "In summary, we find that these advances are likely to have a transformative impact in structural biology and broader life science research." https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.26.461876v1.abstract https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.26.461876v1.... Is the title hyperbolic wrt this being a revolution? Maybe. Is it fair to say AI is 'ushering' a lot of new science research into existence? Absolutely.
- TaupeRanger 4y ago
  And yet, human lives haven't improved one iota from it. What good is a technology if all it does is cause lots of citations and padding of researchers' CVs?
  - rsfern 4y ago
    There’s a few drugs currently in clinical trials that used AlphaFold in the design pipeline, IIRC. So that is something.
    - YeGoblynQueenne 4y ago
      That's what the OP is saying, right? That all these payoffs are currently in the future. Drugs in clinical trials, advances likely to have a transformative impact, etc etc. "AI" is ushering in a new era of stuff that may or may not happen in the future.
    - TaupeRanger 4y ago
      Yes, and I'm as hopeful as anyone that they will make real patients live longer and/or better. But to suggest that the tech is "ushering in" a revolution before any such studies have released their findings is just worthless noise. We have no idea if it will be a fantastic miracle or a useless diversion.

mensetmanusman 4y ago

This is actually an appropriate use of the word ushering. We finally have great uses for all these transistors:)

andreyk 4y ago

AlphaFold already has 3000 citations... For instance "A structural biology community assessment of AlphaFold 2 applications" which states "In summary, we find that these advances are likely to have a transformative impact in structural biology and broader life science research." https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.26.461876v1.abstract https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.26.461876v1.... Is the title hyperbolic wrt this being a revolution? Maybe. Is it fair to say AI is 'ushering' a lot of new science research into existence? Absolutely.

TaupeRanger 4y ago
And yet, human lives haven't improved one iota from it. What good is a technology if all it does is cause lots of citations and padding of researchers' CVs?
- rsfern 4y ago
  There’s a few drugs currently in clinical trials that used AlphaFold in the design pipeline, IIRC. So that is something.
  - YeGoblynQueenne 4y ago
    That's what the OP is saying, right? That all these payoffs are currently in the future. Drugs in clinical trials, advances likely to have a transformative impact, etc etc. "AI" is ushering in a new era of stuff that may or may not happen in the future.
  - TaupeRanger 4y ago
    Yes, and I'm as hopeful as anyone that they will make real patients live longer and/or better. But to suggest that the tech is "ushering in" a revolution before any such studies have released their findings is just worthless noise. We have no idea if it will be a fantastic miracle or a useless diversion.