Artificial intelligence helps bring about record-fast vaccines The function of a protein is determined by its 3D shape. Laguna Design/Science Photo Library The rapid development of two highly effective Covid-19 vaccines was made possible through AI technology and innovative collaboration among researchers around the world, including Switzerland. This content was published on January 8, 2021 - 11:00 January 8, 2021 - 11:00 Sara Ibrahim Writes about the impact of new technologies on society: are we aware of the revolution in progress and its consequences? Hobby: free thinking. Habit: asking too many questions. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionise the world of science and solve some of the most complex problems facing modern biology. Chief among them: predicting the structure of unknown proteins to unlock the secrets of cells and the diseases that affect them. Recently, protein structures have been in the spotlight because of their central role in the development of new Covid-19 vaccines, such as those based on messenger RNA.