(Quanta Magazine) – Some are counting on outsourcing the analysis to artificial intelligence. Genomic “foundation models” such as Evo 2, Genos, and Google DeepMind’s AlphaGenome are trained on vast quantities of genomic data, which biologists use to make predictions about how differences in DNA sequence affect biological processes and ultimately the traits (including disease risk) of a whole organism. These algorithms don’t worry about the complicated regulatory stuff going on; all of that is supposedly subsumed by the algorithm’s “training,” through which it deduces correlations from cases we already know about.

This approach is likely to be useful, but for those who crave real understanding of how the genome, and ultimately life itself, works, a computational black box will never suffice. And perhaps more to the point, the genome might not submit to the kind of straightforward input-output approach that such AI models ultimately assume.

That’s because the genome is no blueprint or algorithm. It is something else. (Read More)