AI used to predict which animal viruses are likely to infect humans: study

Maria Bartiromo investigates the future of the artificial intelligence industry and its impact on business. Artificial intelligence (AI) could be key in helping scientists identify the next animal virus that is capable of infecting humans, according to researchers. In a Tuesday study published in the journal PLoS Biology, the Glasgow-based team said it had devised a genomic model that could "retrospectively or prospectively predict the probability that viruses will be able to infect humans." The group developed machine learning models to single out candidate zoonotic viruses using signatures of host range encoded in viral genomes. With a dataset of 861 viral species with known zoonotic status, the researchers collected a single representative genome sequence from the hundreds of RNA and DNA virus species, spanning 36 viral families.