IBM Released Cancer Research AI Tools to Public Domain

IBM is one of the oldest and largest existing IT companies. With decades of experience and numerous high-profile technological projects in its hands, including many record-breaking supercomputers and more obscure achievements in computers, it’s not very surprising to hear that it has once again done the world another great favor.

Open Sourcing

Recently, researchers from IBM have successfully developed three artificial intelligence (AI) tools that medical researchers can use as reinforcement in the battle against cancer. Initially close sourced, tested, and used within the company only, the company has decided to release all toolkits into the public domain.

The tools will help immensely the process by streamlining the research and development to figure out a cancer-fighting drug. If the tools were as useful as the company has purported it to be, this could mean a great surge within the pharmaceutical pipeline on cancer-fighting drugs, cocktails, and therapies.

The Trio Of Cancer-Fighting Toolkits

According to the press release, IBM officially announced the move at two conferences on molecular biology in Switzerland. The first of the three tools, PaccMann, utilizes deep learning to calculate whether a certain compound can work as an anti-cancer drug. Before the tool, such calculations and related experiments were complex and expensive.

Second is INtERAcT, which will automatically trawl through scientific databases and keep researchers most up to date with the latest developments in the field. And lastly, PIMKL will be an extremely useful aid that could provide tailored servicing to patients in need depending on their specific conditions.

The goal of the move, according to IBM’s press release, is to:

Unfortunately, it cannot be said that all IBM high-tech projects are turning out alright. The AI doctor Watson that the company released came under fires by users and experts alike by giving patients bad, borderline dangerous, medical advice. Fortunately, the two projects are not related to one another.