AI Revolutionizes Protein Research and Therapeutic Applications Revolutionized by AI

AI Revolutionizes Protein Research and Therapeutic Applications

A team of researchers at MIT has developed an AI system called FragFold, which can predict protein fragments that can bind to or inhibit a target protein. This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize biological research and therapeutic applications. FragFold uses an AI model called AlphaFold to computationally predict protein fragments that can bind to and inhibit full-length proteins in E. coli. The researchers confirmed experimentally that more than half of FragFold's predictions for binding or inhibition were accurate, even when researchers had no previous structural data on the mechanisms of those interactions.

AI Startup Mercor Lands $2 Billion Valuation

Mercor, an AI-powered hiring startup led by a 21-year-old Thiel Fellow, has notched a valuation of $2 billion in a new funding round. The startup raised $100 million in the deal, led by Felicis, with participation from General Catalyst, DST Global, Benchmark, and Menlo Ventures. This massive markup for the small San Francisco-based team is a sign of continuing AI exuberance.

Tempus AI's Tumbling Path: Unraveling the Stock's Shocking Descent

Tempus AI's stock price experienced a significant drop from $85.71 to $74.08, causing concern among financial analysts. Analyst opinions vary, with Piper Sandler increasing its price target, Stifel Nicolaus downgrading from “buy” to “hold,” Loop Capital lowering its outlook, and TD Cowen raising its target to $74.00. Key insider transactions suggest strategic changes within Tempus AI, and institutional investors are adjusting their positions, affecting the company's ownership structure and highlighting market volatility's potential opportunities.

UMD Gets Grant to Develop A.I. Products for Journalists

The University of Maryland, College Park, has received a $1 million grant to develop A.I. products for journalists. The grant will be used to develop four A.I. products over the next three years, including an 'A.I. Meeting Watchdog' to monitor government meetings, 'The Beat Book' to help smaller news organizations, a 'Reporter's Tool Box' to streamline reporters' workflows, and a 'Visibility for Local News Project' to help local news become more visible online.

Medical Training's AI Leap: How Agentic RAG, Open-Weight LLMs, and Real-Time Case Insights Are Shaping a New Generation of Doctors at NYU Langone

NYU Langone has developed a large language model (LLM) that serves as a respected research companion and medical advisor. The model processes electronic health records, matching them with relevant research, diagnosis tips, and essential background information, delivering concise, tailored emails to residents the following morning. This approach uses AI to provide highly customized student journeys, known as 'precision medical education.'

In the GenAI Era, Why Are Customer Service Chatbots Dumb?

Despite the potential of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to revolutionize online customer service, many customer-facing chatbots are not smarter. Instead, AI has been relegated to helping human representatives research company policies and product information. Several high-profile incidents have cast a shadow over using chatbots directly with the public, given potential financial and brand damage if the chatbot or AI agent hallucinates.

How Organisations Can Secure AI Agents

AI agents have the potential to boost business productivity but introduce new security risks due to their autonomous nature and reasoning capabilities. To secure AI agents, organisations can establish industry standards to govern their development and authentication, use AI-driven security capabilities to counter non-deterministic agent behavior, and consider the lifecycle of AI agents, which can modify their own code.

How Kraft Heinz Is Using Artificial Intelligence to Produce a Better Claussen Pickle

Kraft Heinz is incorporating artificial intelligence across many facets of its supply chain to improve reliability and efficiency, with the venerable cucumber being one of the biggest beneficiaries. The company has seen a 12% increase in efficiency and better quality from the start, allowing it to get more cases out of the factory and provide better service for its customers.

CEO of Clearview AI, a Controversial Facial Recognition Startup, Has Resigned

The CEO of Clearview AI, Hoan Ton-That, has resigned, and the startup now has two co-CEOs who want to capitalize on new opportunities under the Trump administration. Clearview AI has faced several controversies, including GDPR fines and a lawsuit from conservative investor Charles Johnson.

RingCentral Launches AI Receptionist, Enters Agentic AI Arena

RingCentral has launched an AI Receptionist (AIR), marking its agentic AI debut. The solution is an AI phone agent that autonomously handles inbound customer calls, routing customers through to the best-placed agent when it is not certain of a helpful response. Businesses with “any budget” can now “instantly deploy” RingCentral AIR, according to the enterprise communications giant.

Key Takeaways

AI is revolutionizing protein research and therapeutic applications with the development of FragFold, an AI system that can predict protein fragments that can bind to or inhibit a target protein.
AI-powered hiring startup Mercor has notched a valuation of $2 billion in a new funding round, a sign of continuing AI exuberance.
Tempus AI's stock price has experienced a significant drop, causing concern among financial analysts, and key insider transactions suggest strategic changes within the company.
The University of Maryland, College Park, has received a $1 million grant to develop A.I. products for journalists.
NYU Langone has developed a large language model (LLM) that serves as a respected research companion and medical advisor, using AI to provide highly customized student journeys in medical education.
Customer service chatbots are not living up to their potential, and several high-profile incidents have cast a shadow over using chatbots directly with the public.
AI agents introduce new security risks due to their autonomous nature and reasoning capabilities, and organisations can secure them by establishing industry standards and using AI-driven security capabilities.
Kraft Heinz is using artificial intelligence to produce a better Claussen pickle by incorporating AI across many facets of its supply chain.
The CEO of Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition startup, has resigned, and the startup now has two co-CEOs who want to capitalize on new opportunities under the Trump administration.
RingCentral has launched an AI Receptionist (AIR), marking its agentic AI debut, and businesses with “any budget” can now “instantly deploy” RingCentral AIR.

AI Revolutionizes Protein Research and Therapeutic Applications Revolutionized by AI