New antibiotics capable of killing drug-resistant gonorrhoea are developed... by AI

New antibiotics capable of killing drug-resistant gonorrhoea have been developed by AI. Experts believe that Artificial Intelligence could signify a'second golden age' of antibiotic discovery, after creating two drugs that could be capable of killing superbugs such as gonorrhea and MRSA. Led by Professor James Collins at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a specialist research team used generative AI algorithms to interrogate 36million compounds. The experts then trained the AI to help it learn how bacteria was affected by different molecular structures built of atoms in order to design new antibiotics. In order to do this, they gave it the chemical structure of known compounds and data on their ability to hinder the growth of different bacteria species. Throughout the study, published in the journal Cell, anything too similar to the current antibiotics available, or with the potential to be toxic to human beings, was eradicated.