Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith described the supercomputer as 'potentially world-changing'
A £225m supercomputer is using
artificial intelligence (AI) to develop new drugs and vaccines.
When it is fully operational
this summer, the Isambard-AI computer in Bristol will be the most powerful
supercomputer in the UK.
On Monday, Prime Minister Sir
Keir Starmer unveiled plans to "unleash
AI" across the UK in an effort to boost growth.
Simon McIntosh-Smith, a
professor in high-performance computing at Bristol University, said the Isambard-AI meant
the UK "genuinely can be competitive with the world".
Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol,
Prof McIntosh-Smith said: "We've actually got a little bit of the system
already up and running, we already have people using it to do things like look
for new drugs and new vaccines to treat people."
He added that the team are using
the computer to develop vaccines for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia,
as well as treatments for heart disease, emphysema and different types of
cancers.
The technology is even being
used by one group of researchers to greatly improve the detection of a type of
skin cancer called melanoma in a huge range of skin tones.
"It can do a lot of the
grunt work, a lot of the things that would just be beyond humans because they
have so much thinking power and so much computing power," he added.
Isambard-AI is already being used to
tackle heart disease and emphysema
But how exactly can artificial
intelligence be used to create new vaccines and drugs?
As Prof McKintosh-Smith
explained, AI models are now capable of "simulating the way that drugs
actually work inside the body, at the molecular level right down to atoms and
molecules".
"Many drugs work by
targeting certain proteins in the human body and deactivating them or changing
the way they behave," he explained.
In the past, scientists would
have had to work out themselves how potential treatments could interact with
these proteins - a process based on "lots of experience and
intelligence", but also "educated guessing".
"You can only make so many
[guesses] Prof McKintosh-Smith added, "and physically making things takes
time and costs money and all sorts of things like that, so how that sort of
physical experimentation is quite limited."
But all this, he explained, is
changed by a supercomputer like Isambard AI - using technology with the
capacity to use databases of millions of potential drugs that can be tested in
their earliest stages virtually rather than in a lab.
"Where artificial
intelligence comes into it, is rather than trying all possible combinations of
things it actually tries a whole bunch of random possibilities, looks at which
are most promising, and then hones in on those.
"Artificial intelligence
helps to zoom in and cut down on hot spots quickly, and there's lots of
variance in how people are using that," he added.
Prof McKintosh-Smith added:
"We could be saving millions of lives with some of the things that we're
talking about here and I find that tremendously exciting - it's brilliant to be
able to actually be doing it right here in Bristol."
'Potentially world-changing'
In his speech earlier this week,
the prime minister said AI had "vast potential" for rejuvenating
public services in the UK. He gave examples including using the technology to
inspect roads and spot potholes, or diagnose diseases like cancer more quickly.
When questioned about the huge
investment being made in Isambard-AI, Prof McIntosh-Smith said the
"payback is potentially world-changing".
Comparing the development of AI
to the launch of the internet or invention of mobile phones, Prof
McIntosh-Smith said: "One of the advantages of something like Isambard-AI
being funded by the government is all of that work is then done in the public
[interest], it's done by academics and that work is much more open than it
might be had it been done in a company."
When it comes fully online,
Isambard-AI will be among the top ten most powerful computers in the world
When it is fully operational the
Isambard-AI, based at the National Composites Centre in Emersons Green, will be
among the "top 10 fastest" supercomputers in the world.
"We've done things that
no-one else has done before," said Prof McIntosh-Smith.
Supercomputers need vast amounts
of energy to function, and the rapid increase of AI in general has caused serious concerns
about energy consumption.
Despite being designed to be as efficient
as possible Isambard-AI is no exception..
But Prof McIntosh-Smith told the
BBC the could come with an unexpected benefit, as the waste energy it produces
comes out as hot water.
"We're actually exploring
ways of using that to heat the local homes and businesses," Prof
McIntosh-Smith said.
"So if you happen to be
living near Isambard in the future we might be able to heat your home with our
waste energy."
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