AI supercomputer is being used to develop Alzheimer’s vaccines

A £225m supercomputer is using artificial intelligence (AI) to develop new medicines and vaccines.

When 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 revealed plans to “roll out AI” across the UK in an effort to boost growth.

Simon McIntosh-Smith, a professor of high-performance computing at the University of Bristol, said that Isambard-AI it would say that the UK “really can be competitive with the world”.

Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol, Prof McIntosh-Smith said: “We actually have a small part of the system already up and running, we already have people using it to do things like research new drugs and vaccines new to treat people.”

He added that the team is using the computer to develop vaccines for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, as well as treatments for heart disease, emphysema and various types of cancer.

The technology is even being used by a group of researchers to greatly improve the detection of a type of skin cancer called melanoma across a wide range of skin tones.

“He can do a lot of work, a lot of things that would be beyond humans because they have so much thinking power and so much computing power,” he added.

But how exactly can artificial intelligence be used to create new vaccines and drugs?

As Prof McKintosh-Smith explained, AI models are now able to “simulate how drugs actually work inside the body, at the molecular level down to atoms and molecules”.

“Many drugs work by targeting certain proteins in the human body and disabling them or changing the way they behave,” he explained.

In the past, scientists would have to work out on their own how potential treatments might interact with these proteins — a process based on “a lot of experience and intelligence” but also “educated guesswork.”

“You can only do so much [guesses] Prof McKintosh-Smith added, “and doing things physically takes time and costs money and all sorts of things like that, so the way that kind of physical experimentation is quite limited.”

But all that, he explained, has been changed by a supercomputer like Isambard AI – using technology with the capacity to tap into databases of millions of potential drugs that can be tested at their earliest stages virtually rather than in a laboratory.

“Where artificial intelligence comes into it is instead of trying all possible combinations of things, it actually tries a bunch of random possibilities, sees which ones are the most promising, and then processes them.

“Artificial intelligence helps to zoom in and out of hotspots quickly, and there’s a lot of variation in how people use it,” he added.

Prof McKintosh-Smith added: “We could save millions of lives with some of the things we’re talking about here and I find that incredibly exciting – it’s brilliant to be able to do it right here in Bristol.”

In his speech earlier this week, the Prime Minister said AI had “huge potential” for the renewal of public services in the UK. He gave examples including using technology to inspect roads and detect potholes, or to diagnose diseases such as cancer more quickly.

When asked about the huge investment being made in Isambard-AI, Prof McIntosh-Smith said “the payoff is potentially world-changing”.

Comparing the development of AI to the launch of the internet or the invention of mobile phones, Prof McIntosh-Smith said: “One of the advantages of something like Isambard-AI being government-funded is that all the work is then done in public. [interest]it’s done by academics and that work is much more open than it could have been done in a company.”

When fully operational, Isambard-AI, based at the National Composites Center in Emersons Green, will be among the 10 fastest supercomputers in the world.

“We’ve done things that no one else has done before,” Prof McIntosh-Smith said.

Supercomputers need large amounts of energy to operate, and the rapid growth 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 it could have an unexpected benefit, as the waste energy it produces comes out as hot water.

“We’re actually exploring ways to use it to heat local homes and businesses,” Prof McIntosh-Smith said.

“So if you happen to live near Isambard in the future, we might be able to heat your house with our waste energy.”