In January 2020, as doctors struggled to treat the first coronavirus patients, data scientists and biochemists at BenevolentAI turned to artificial intelligence to hunt for a drug to help.

The researchers had only a few clues about how the new virus operated. They fed them to their algorithm and set it to work searching 50mn medical journal articles in just a few hours. Together, the scientists and the algorithm deepened their understanding of which biological pathways a drug should target and searched for approved drugs to repurpose.

In just four days, they narrowed it down to baricitinib. The Eli Lilly drug usually used to treat rheumatoid arthritis tackles both the virus and the body’s inflammatory reaction. It was the first time AI had discovered a drug to repurpose that has then been used widely.