AI and other means towards a vaccine

Let us for a moment take a break from the dull media endlessly telling us about ravages caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The good news is that one cannot ignore the blessing that humanity will reap from the benign qualities of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This resource can be of great value, especially in biotech, molecular experiments and its accessory components of ubiquitous data, high-speed connections and autonomous robots.

Many efforts have been undertaken to accelerate AI research in order to combat this pandemic. With the spread of COVID-19 showing no signs of slowing and its relatively high mortality rate when compared to other viral bases illnesses such as influenza, it is essential to develop vaccines and antiviral medications.

Undoubtedly, AI is fast becoming a major technological tool for prescriptive analytics, the step beyond predictive analytics that helps us determine how to implement and/or optimise optimal decisions. In business applications it can assess future risks, quantify probabilities and in so doing, give us insights how to improve market penetration, customer satisfaction, security analysis, trade execution, fraud detection and prevention, while proving indispensable in land and air traffic control, national security and medical health.

This is not to mention a host of healthcare applications such as patient-specific treatments for infectious diseases and illnesses. To quote a few examples of the rapid progress made by research and development co-funded by multi-national firms, one may start by mentioning Google.

The giant search engine firm is a pioneer in the field of AI, developing self-driving automobiles, smartphone assistants and other examples of machine learning. Experts tell us that it is still early in the era of applying machine learning to vaccine design. In fact, a machine learning model is only as good as its training data and current immunology models are trained on much smaller datasets compared to models for voice recognition or facial recognition, areas in which artificial intelligence has excelled.

Let us discuss vaccines. Experts tell us that these work by exposing the body to parts of a pathogen with the aim that your immune system will more easily recognise it in the future, mounting a quicker and more robust response. The oldest forms of vaccines were composed of dead viruses that are relatively safe but sometimes ineffective or live, weakened viruses that pose greater safety risks.

More recent vaccines tend to contain specific components of a virus that are judged to be safe and effective. Future vaccines might even include specific viral protein fragments. Regardless of the way in which a vaccine is composed, the design goal is always to include viral components that are visible to your immune system and eliciting an immune response.

Testing of vaccines usually is done over three cycles and these take long. Nowadays, with the help of AI and other technologies we can be more confident in the efficacy of vaccines even before they have gone to trials − we can dramatically accelerate what is otherwise a very slow feedback route. Apart from help in developing vaccines, AI also contributes towards better robots that can speed the global GDP recovery.

When it comes to use of AI in powering complex robotics, these reduce cost of manufacturing. One may ask, who is funding such expensive research? The answer is a cohort of venture capitalists who are constantly poised to look out for talented persons in their ongoing recruiting outreach. It isn’t uncommon for research firms to seek topnotch university graduates who show leadership potential. Masayoshi Son is a Japanese investor who created Softbank (now with version 2) which he wants to mimic a “virtual Silicon Valley”, meaning a platform on which unicorns (start-ups that turned to become a billion dollar marvel) can offer each other contacts and advice, buy goods and services from each other and even join forces. Son told CNBC that people should brace themselves for the proliferation of AI as it will change the way we live within three decades.

Son, who founded SoftBank in the 1980s, has grand visions of what technological advancements the future holds. SoftBank’s subsidiaries are pushing the frontiers of technology in areas such as the Internet of Things, AI and deep learning. For this purpose, the Vision Fund is aggressively competing with traditional technology investors in Silicon Valley in a no-holdsbarred fight for talent. Son believes he has a unique ability to predict future technology trends and gallantly states he is ready for the gamble.

SoftBank is synonymous with its charismatic founder that is reshaping global tech with its colossal treasure box. It is shaking up the cosy world of Silicon Valley venture capital. One may ask, how can this help humanity fight the scourges of the latest pandemic? The answer is that ability to analyse large volumes of scientific data involved in the research by medical staff in their quest to combat the COVID-19 strain is improved by using AI facilities.

In passing, one may feel that the disruptive path of this new technology is constantly looking for champions with aggressive investment appetite to nurture new ventures. Readers appreciate this disruptive technology has a benign purpose and is helping to link various civilizations, improve crop yields, scan persons for traces of infection in airports, schools etc. and speed up progress in complex human genome classification.

AI in machines can even do medical assessments during epidemics when over-worked doctors are busy tending the sick. Imagine how soon there will be robots which are efficient and devoid of emotions quietly supervising hundreds of complex factory operations, possibly during the temporary absence of workers cordoned off under an extended quarantine mandated during pandemics.

Though the COVID-19 situation may appear grim, it is important to draw attention to AI technologies that can ameliorate some of the most pressing and timely problems that this pandemic has created.

George Mangion is a senior partner of an audit and consultancy firm and has over 25 years’ experience in accounting, taxation, financial and consultancy services. His efforts have seen PKF be instrumental in establishing many companies in Malta and placed PKF in the forefront as professional financial service providers on the Island. George can be contacted at gmm@pkfmalta.com or on +356 2148 4373.