Silicon Valley’s biggest AI chiefs are promising sweeping medical breakthroughs, including timelines to “cure all disease” and eliminate most cancers. Scientists and pharma executives say the technology is already useful—but mostly in prosaic ways such as sifting data, ranking hypotheses, and speeding routine lab work. Even a promising AI-designed molecule faces years of wet‑lab validation, clinical trials, and regulatory review that software can’t shortcut. Companies from Pfizer and Moderna to research hospitals report gains in target discovery and experiment design, but stress that biology’s messiness, limited high‑quality data, and real‑world safety demands curb the grander claims. The takeaway: AI is sharpening tools, not rewriting the rulebook—at least not yet.
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