Could This AI Tool Help Prevent the Next Pandemic Nightmare?

Published Sep 28 2021 at 8:17 PM GMT

Key
Points

MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via GettyDespite a vocal cohort suspecting otherwise, many scientists continue to believe the novel coronavirus that has killed nearly five million people emerged when the deadly pathogen made the jump from animals to humans, a process called zoonosis.
Suffice it to say that after 20 months of lockdowns and despair, the world desperately wants to avoid another global-health crisis like this one.
Now, a trio of scientists at the University of Glasgow in the UK think they have just the tool: an AI model that can identify animal viruses with a high risk of one day infecting humans.
Early tests, detailed in a new study in PLOS Biology, even purport to show how this very technology might have helped identify SARS-CoV-2, the technical name for the virus that causes COVID-19, before its documented emergence in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.