If your day job doesn't involve drug discovery or understanding the molecular biology that underpins disease, then you might have missed what is possibly the most seismic advance in health science since the discovery of the smallpox vaccine. The complexity of the problem and the innumerable applications allowed by the solution, makes solving the protein-folding problem by AlphaFold a truly magnificent leap forward for mankind. To bring you into the picture, AlphaFold is open-source AI developed by DeepMind (a subsidiary of Google's parent company, Alphabet). In 2020, while we were all distract ..read more

Colorectal cancer contributes to a substantial proportion of the global burden of morbidity and mortality. It is the third most common cancer, preventable by regular surveillance examinations during colonoscopy. Colonoscopy is a critical screening, diagnostic and treatment tool, capable of interrupting adenoma to carcinoma progression. But being largely operator-dependent, the experience of the endoscopists influences the chances of having an optimal examination done. This is an important problem that results in the increased occurrence of interval cancers (resulting from failing to detect or ..read more

Healthcare systems all around the world are increasingly under pressure to provide higher service quality for the least resources. In Radiology departments, the workforce growth is not sufficient to catch up on the need for advanced imaging. The NHS is suffering a radiology staffing crisis, the workforce shortfall is expected to reach 39% by 2026. COVID-19 has worsened this situation, since people pushed their screenings further, which accumulated and created a backlog, forming long lines for CT and MRI scans. In September 2020, 370 000 people in England alone were waiting for CT or MRI examin ..read more

To understand why the answer to that question might be a resounding "yes!" we need to consider what the future of AI might look like. The term Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) refers to a hypothetical version of AI that has "agency"; that is, it is able to direct its own intellectual pursuits instead of pursuing some predetermined (human defined) narrow objective. AGIs will do more than just learn, they will understand. In a way that will be substantially different from our own experience, AGIs will be self-aware, conscious, alive. The threats of AGI is based on the following premises: P ..read more

My definition of AI is that it's any computer system that replicates aspects of the human mind. Humans are able to follow instructions, recognise objects and phenomena, make sequential decisions aimed at a specific predetermined objective and finally, we're able to set our own goals and objectives as conscious beings with free will (or at least the illusion of free will). The first three of those "aspects of mind" are easily replicated by computers today. The last one, computers that are "self-aware" doesn't exist yet but is certainly being worked on. The generic term for these computers is A ..read more