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A new artificial intelligence tool developed by Google has solved a mystery that microbiologists have been working on for over a decade in 48 hours, a discovery that has surprised the scientific community and demonstrated the potential of AI in basic research.
Professor José R. Penades from Imperial College London and his team were studying the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in superbugs. Deciding to test the new AI tool, the scientist asked it a key question of his work. The neural network proposed a hypothesis that completely coincided with the conclusions of the scientists, although their research was not published in the public domain.
Amazed, Penades even asked Google if the AI had access to his computer. The company assured him that it couldn't. Moreover, the AI not only reproduced the previously obtained conclusions, but also proposed four new theories, one of which turned out to be so promising that the team immediately set about testing it.
Penades' main research area is the transfer of antibiotic resistance between bacteria. Scientists have suggested that bacteria can borrow the tails of viruses to transfer resistance between species. This suggestion has not been published in any scientific papers, but artificial intelligence has independently reached a similar conclusion.
According to the professor, such tools can significantly change science. Despite fears that AI can replace human labor, Penades sees it not as a threat, but as a powerful tool that will help accelerate the process of scientific discovery and make research much more efficient.
A new artificial intelligence tool developed by Google has solved a mystery that microbiologists have been working on for over a decade in 48 hours, a discovery that has surprised the scientific community and demonstrated the potential of AI in basic research.
Professor José R. Penades from Imperial College London and his team were studying the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in superbugs. Deciding to test the new AI tool, the scientist asked it a key question of his work. The neural network proposed a hypothesis that completely coincided with the conclusions of the scientists, although their research was not published in the public domain.
Amazed, Penades even asked Google if the AI had access to his computer. The company assured him that it couldn't. Moreover, the AI not only reproduced the previously obtained conclusions, but also proposed four new theories, one of which turned out to be so promising that the team immediately set about testing it.
Penades' main research area is the transfer of antibiotic resistance between bacteria. Scientists have suggested that bacteria can borrow the tails of viruses to transfer resistance between species. This suggestion has not been published in any scientific papers, but artificial intelligence has independently reached a similar conclusion.
According to the professor, such tools can significantly change science. Despite fears that AI can replace human labor, Penades sees it not as a threat, but as a powerful tool that will help accelerate the process of scientific discovery and make research much more efficient.
