AI prepares to replace animal trials

Scientists test the new chemicals they invent on animals because we do not fully understand the cause-effect relationships when it comes to chemical reactions. Thus, some chemical compounds can cause unexpected damage to live cell interactions, according to Quartz. But an artificial intelligence system in the Toxicological Sciences journal shows that it might be possible to automate these tests using the knowledge of chemical interactions that we already have.

Artificial Intelligence has been trained to predict how tens of thousands of unknown chemical combinations will react based on previous animal tests, and the results of the algorithm have proven to be just as accurate as those obtained from animal tests.

The algorithm can predict the outcome for nine different tests, from skin corrosion to eye irritation. The authors argue that 57% of the animal tests conducted in the EU in 2011 covered exactly these nine tests. It's not the first computerized system that tries to predict whether a chemical will be toxic, but the massive amount of data that this artificial intelligence system can use has been inconceivable in recent years.

In 2008, European law has forced companies to make public information about toxic chemicals marketed in the European Union. The team, led by toxicologist Thomas Hartung of the research institute John Hopkins, has been working on translating public data into the EU into data usable for the Artificial Intelligence algorithm as early as 2014, according to Nature.

Data sets used in this artificial intelligence system comprise over 850,000 chemical attributes, as well as the degree to which they are explosive or carcinogenic. A team of 16 US government agencies invited Hartung's team and other artificial intelligence researchers working on similar issues to demonstrate the efficiency of their systems before the National Health Institute, according to Nature. The exercise resulted in an algorithmic toxicity pattern of 40,000 chemicals to be published this year.

And this is another proof on how technology can be used and improve the world in which we are living in. AI and blockchain currently might go on separate paths, but I believe that at some point these industries will intersect and new advances in technology will take place. Harvesting the world power of processing will improve AI to advance faster than ever. Great thing achieved and a step towards ending animal trials.