Deep inside Alphabet, the parent company of Google, a secretive lab is working on a promise so audacious it sounds like science fiction: to “solve all diseases.” The company, Isomorphic Labs, is now preparing to start its first human clinical trials for cancer drugs designed entirely by artificial intelligence.
In a recent interview with Fortune, Colin Murdoch, President of Isomorphic Labs and Chief Business Officer of Google DeepMind, confirmed the company is on the verge of this monumental step. For anyone who has watched a loved one battle a devastating illness, the hope this offers is immense. But for a public increasingly wary of AI’s power, it raises a chilling question: can we really trust a “black box” algorithm with our lives?
Use of AI (actually Machine Learning) in the medical field has been going on for a LONG time, and has nothing to do with the recent explosion of mostly-useless LLMs. And even if this weren’t the case, the way some technology was developed kinda doesn’t matter a whole lot when it’s going to be put through a rigorous testing process to determine it’s actual efficacy. Which is what this article is talking about: taking a drug that’s already gone through a bunch of non-human testing and moving to the next step.
I know the US government is doing its damndest to dismantle safety regulations, avross all industries, but I don’t think we’re quite at the point that we should be alarmed at new possible cancer treatments.