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Google DeepMind's 'Leap Forward' in AI Could Unlock Secrets of Biology (theguardian.com) 29

Posted by msmash from the leap-forward dept.
Researchers have hailed another "leap forward" for AI after Google DeepMind unveiled the latest version of its AlphaFold program, which can predict how proteins behave in the complex symphony of life. From a report: The breakthrough promises to shed fresh light on the biological machinery that underpins living organisms and drive breakthroughs in fields from antibiotics and cancer therapy to new materials and resilient crops. "It's a big milestone for us," said Demis Hassabis, the chief executive of Google DeepMind and the spin-off, Isomorphic Labs, which co-developed AlphaFold3. "Biology is a dynamic system and you have to understand how properties of biology emerge through the interactions between different molecules."

Earlier versions of AlphaFold focused on predicting the 3D structures of 200m proteins, the building blocks of life, from their chemical constituents. Knowing what shape a protein takes is crucial because it determines how the protein will function -- or malfunction -- inside a living organism. AlphaFold3 was trained on a global database of 3D molecular structures and goes a step further by predicting how proteins will interact with the other molecules and ions they encounter. When asked to make a prediction, the program starts with a cloud of atoms and steadily reshapes it into the most accurate predicted structure. Writing in Nature, the researchers describe how AlphaFold3 can predict how proteins interact with other proteins, ions, strands of genetic code, and smaller molecules, such as those developed for medicines. In tests, the program's accuracy varied from 62% to 76%.
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Google DeepMind's 'Leap Forward' in AI Could Unlock Secrets of Biology More

Google DeepMind's 'Leap Forward' in AI Could Unlock Secrets of Biology

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  • but what are the AIs gonna do with a population that just doesn't die off?

  • Ok, unlock biology, explain female logic.

    • Ok, unlock biology, explain female logic.

      Explain female logic? Part of that presupposes that there is actually any consistent logic to such "logic." But more to the point, we can't expect AI to do the impossible.

      Answer random questions on a search engine with questionable accuracy? Check.

      Create pictures based on text prompts and making something derivative? Check.

      Use advanced pattern recognition to try and analyze events, perform technical analysis on a market, and turn a profit? Check.

      Predict protein folding? Check.

      Predict the characteristics of

      • I think to "Make an accurate model of female logic processes especially including their romantic preferences" you might need to "Use advanced pattern recognition to try and analyze events, perform technical analysis on a market", plus "unlock biology".

    • Ok, unlock biology, explain female logic.

      And people wonder why women would rather be alone in a forest with a bear than a man [cnn.com].

  • So would they say it's going to be a "great leap forward" then?

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