Drugs Will Be Made by an A.I. Sooner Than You Think

Remember the ice bucket challenge? The meme of 2014 brought a splash (ha) of attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, the neurodegenerative disease Stephen Hawking lives with along with some 450,000 other people around the world. The American ALS Association (ALSA) received an outpouring of donations, which directly led to the discovery of a gene that contributes to the disease. Now, artificial intelligence is set to bring the next breakthrough in the fight against ALS -- specifically regarding the development of drugs. Jackie Hunter, CEO of BenevolentBio, said at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference on Tuesday in London that her company expects to make a difference for ALS patients in the next five years because of pharmaceuticals that could be developed based on the findings of artificial intelligence that scans the oceans of medical studies being published every day.