Doctors Told Him He Was Going to Die. Then A.I. Saved His Life.

Scientists are using machine learning to find new treatments among thousands of old medicines.


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/...e_code=1.5k4.8QFK.wor_LdM-hIJS&smid=url-share

 

I wonder what we would get it if we could feed that data from DecodeME into one of these models?

Also, this warning will always be appropriate:

No model is infallible, Dr. Zitnik said. A.I. can sometimes make predictions “based on evidence that isn’t sufficiently strong.”

Dr. Colvis said ranking potential treatments by likelihood of success can also prove difficult. Such issues make physician oversight crucial. Sometimes, a doctor will determine that a treatment suggestion is too risky to try, she said. “But then there are instances where they will see something and say, ‘OK, this looks like it’s reasonable,’” Dr. Colvis added.

When Dr. Fajgenbaum first suggested that Dr. Wayne Gao, a hematologist and oncologist in Washington State, try a novel treatment on one of his patients, Dr. Gao had doubts.

The patient was Coates, the Washington man headed for hospice, and the aggressive drug combination suggested by Dr. Fajgenbaum’s model seemed “a little bit crazy,” Dr. Gao said. In fact, he worried that the treatment might kill Coates faster.

But Coates was a young man, and there were no other treatments to consider. And so, Dr. Gao said, “someone had to be the first to try.”