A complex antibiotic resistance problem that took microbiologists a decade to unravel has been solved in just 48 hours by an artificial intelligence (AI) tool.
Professor José R. Penadés and his team at Imperial College London spent years investigating how superbugs develop immunity to antibiotics. When they tested Google’s AI tool, Co-Scientist, it quickly reached the same conclusion and even suggested four additional hypotheses—one of which is now guiding new research.
The AI’s findings shocked Prof. Penadés, especially since his research had never been published and was not available in the public domain. “This will change science,” he said, calling AI a powerful tool rather than a job replacement.
The discovery highlights AI’s potential to accelerate scientific breakthroughs, potentially saving years of work in crucial fields like medicine and microbiology.