A Language AI Is Accurately Predicting Covid-19 'Escape' Mutations

For all their simplicity, viruses are sneaky little life forces. Take SARS-Cov-2, the virus behind Covid-19. Challenged with the human immune system, the virus has gradually reshuffled parts of its genetic material, making it easier to spread among a human population. The new strain has already terrorized South Africa and shut down the UK, and recently popped up in the United States. The silver lining is that our existing vaccines and antibody therapies are still likely to be effective against the new strain. "Viral escape" is a nightmare scenario, in which the virus mutates just enough so that existing antibodies no longer recognize it.