Antibiotic resistance: how AI can tackle the superbug threat

As the world continues to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, another health crisis is looming: antibiotic resistance. Bacterial resistance is something that occurs naturally, but widespread antibiotic misuse has propelled antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to major global health threat status; at least 700,000 people are killed by drug-resistant superbugs every year – and by 2050, this number could reach 10 million. A report by the World Health Organization, published earlier this year, also found that none of the 43 antibiotics currently under development "sufficiently address the problem of drug resistance" in the bacteria considered most dangerous to public health. The situation, as it stands, looks bleak – but there is hope. Advances in technology are vastly improving the way researchers discover and develop drugs, and antibiotics are no exception.