AI Has Successfully Imitated Human Evolution--and Might Do It Even Better

Artificial intelligence is a master of imitation. Every time scientists design an AI--whether to mimic human language or master a game like chess--it either matches or far exceeds the capabilities of its biological creators. Now, AI has proven that it can even master the art of biology itself. Researchers at the University of California-San Francisco, the University of California-Berkeley, and Salesforce Research, a science arm of the SF-based software company, developed an AI capable of copying evolution itself. This doesn't mean the AI created some sort of evolutionary superior superhuman (yet), but instead, the AI designed sequences of 20 amino acids that make up proteins.