AI model designs new antibiotic for staph infections after exploring 46 billion compounds

Researchers at McMaster University have developed a new generative artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of drastically speeding up drug discovery—and, in early tests, it has already designed a brand-new antibiotic. The discovery is a demonstration of how AI could dramatically improve the slow and costly search for new antimicrobial medicines, as bacteria and other microbes continue to evolve resistance to our current suite of drugs.