How AI Is Transforming Drug Discovery From 10 Years to 18 Months

AI drug discovery is the most commercially advanced AI application in science. Insilico Medicine: AI-designed drug reached Phase II trials. Recursion Pharmaceuticals: AI platform screens billions of compounds. BenevolentAI: identified existing drug for new use (baricitinib for COVID). Traditional drug discovery: 10-15 years, $2.6B average. AI approach: potentially 18 months to candidate, 50% cost reduction. The key advantage: AI can explore 'chemical space' orders of magnitude larger than human researchers. 30+ AI-designed drugs now in clinical trials.