Will Artificial Intelligence Find a Cure Against the Coronavirus?

The new coronavirus 2019 first became public at the end of last year in Wuhan, China. Ever since, scientists have been working on a drug that could keep the virus under control – and many are looking into artificial intelligence for help.

Though the bulk of the coronavirus has affected China, it’s spread to nearly 30 countries to date. With a death rate of around 2%, the virus is more deadly than this year’s influenza. In response, government officials and drug companies have quickly stepped up to find a solution.

Scientists in China have already sequenced the genome of the coronavirus to help accelerate the development of vaccines and treatments, and companies using artificial intelligence are among those looking for answers.

Just this week, Benevolent AI announced on The Lancet that it found a drug that could potentially fight the coronavirus using artificial intelligence. Additionally, Insilico Medicine used artificial intelligence to identify six new molecules that might prevent the coronavirus from spreading inside the body, asking medicinal chemists to see if any of the molecules seem promising enough to immediately begin testing.