But that’s changing as researchers apply Artificial Intelligence to the field of drug discovery and innovation. “Drug development has traditionally been a serendipitous activity, like throwing a stick into a tree and seeing if an apple falls,” says Frey, who is also a professor of engineering and medicine at the University of Toronto. Last year, for example, Toronto-based Cyclica was named one of the top 20 AI drug development companies in the world. Janssen Research & Development is already using AI to identify biological markers that more precisely detect the effects of treatments. “AI is most suitable for systems that have an abundance of data and it’s insufficient at creating novel hypotheses that add to that data — AI can’t ‘think outside the box’ on its own.”Frey agrees, adding that AI also can’t solve problems that aren’t clearly defined.

Source: National Post April 01, 2019 18:22 UTC