Q&A: What can AI realistically do for medical research right now?

MedicalXpress | Jul 22, 2026

A new wave of artificial intelligence (AI) tools is emerging to help speed scientific discovery, especially in biomedical research. By analyzing massive datasets, these tools could flag genes that shed light on how disease progresses or drugs that may lead to a potential new treatment, but any errors AI makes can carry serious consequences, according to Dajiang Liu, a University Distinguished Professor and director of artificial intelligence and biomedical informatics at Penn State College of Medicine.