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AI Cancer Cures Halted by Chip Shortage, UK Tech Boss Warns
Confirmed
In Short: The chief executive of Arm Holdings, a UK tech giant, has warned that a global chip shortage is slowing down the development of AI solutions for cancer, despite AI's potential to revolutionize the field.
Rene Haas, CEO of Arm Holdings, has expressed concerns that the current chip shortage is impeding the progress of artificial intelligence (AI) in finding a cure for cancer. Speaking to the BBC, Haas stated, 'However, going forward, as we feed more and more of the models into these computers, and the computers get more sophisticated to run the models, they're going to solve it.' Despite the challenges, Haas remains optimistic about the future role of AI in healthcare, predicting that widespread humanoid robots will become a reality within the next five years.
Haas, who also holds a key role in Arm's main owner, Softbank, emphasized the importance of chip technology in driving AI advancements. 'Arm's power-efficient technology is now being used in half of AI data centres worldwide,' he said. Additionally, the company has seen significant demand for its AGI chip, with over $2bn worth of orders since its launch in March.
However, the chip shortage is not the only hurdle in the path of AI's potential in cancer research. According to Prof Chris Bakal from the Institute of Cancer Research, the real question is no longer whether AI is used, but what data it is fed. Bakal noted, 'The real question is no longer whether we use AI, it's what we feed it.' This underscores the need for more comprehensive data sets to improve AI's effectiveness in cancer treatment.
Animal research has shown that rodent biology cannot fully replicate human cancer spread, highlighting the limitations in current research methods. Vunjak-Novakovic, a professor at Columbia University, explained, 'Cancer is very smart, unfortunately. We learned how the cells cross barriers to get from blood circulation into the tissues.' This research is now being conducted using lab-grown tissues, which can better simulate the conditions in human patients.
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- Rene Haas was previously on the board of British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca The boss of the biggest UK-headquartered tech firm has said that artifical intelligence will find a cure for cancer that humans cannot in our lifetimes.
- In a wide-ranging interview, Haas said the chips Arm designs would fuel self-learning AI robots "in a very large way" in manufacturing, cleaning, security, building bridges, and doing repairs within a decade.
- There have, however, been challenges in the supply of many types of chips, which Haas believes is holding back the roll-out of AI and data centres.
- However, he was sceptical about the idea chips could be manufactured in the UK in the future.
- This has led to a significant evolution in its business in recent months, selling its own microchips.
- Analysis of both tissue compartments revealed evidence that the breast cancer cells were conditioning distant organs before colonization.