This week, amid a flurry of executive orders, the new president announced a $500 billion project, which he called "the largest infrastructure project in artificial intelligence in history."
The White House claims that the "Star Gate" project will create tens of thousands of new jobs and initiate a new technological revolution.
However, the primary goal of this program is to finally develop cancer treatments.
Larry Ellison, the Chief Technology Officer of Oracle, a software development company, states that their technology can utilize simple blood tests to scan for tiny tumor cells that neither humans nor existing lab tests can detect. This means that patients with the earliest forms of the disease can be identified and treated before cancer spreads.
Ellison further added: "Once we sequence the genetic code of a cancer tumor, we can vaccinate a person, which means developing a vaccine tailored for each individual to immunize them against their specific disease, and create such an mRNA vaccine in a robotic manner using artificial intelligence in about 48 hours." He referred to cancer treatment as "the promise of the future."
Mr. Ellison remarked that a potential personalized cancer vaccine is "the hope that AI gives us, and it is a prospect for the future."
Similar experimental mRNA cancer vaccines have been in development since this technology was refined during the Covid pandemic. mRNA vaccines gained public attention when Trump launched a campaign to promote and expedite the development and distribution of vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 — Operation Warp Speed.
Trump faced backlash from his supporters due to his involvement in the development of mRNA vaccines for Covid, which were funded by his administration, as many Republicans and Trump supporters opposed these vaccines.
But will they oppose a cancer vaccine?
When creating mRNA-based cancer vaccines, scientists take a sample from the patient's tumor and analyze its genetic code — since each tumor is genetically unique, this means that there are no two identical cancer vaccines. They then use a part of this vaccine called RNA to develop a personalized vaccine for the patient in the lab. When the vaccine is administered, the body's cells receive instructions to produce a harmless part of the tumor, triggering an immune response.
This process teaches the immune system to recognize similar elements of cancer in the future, providing protection against the disease.
Traditional vaccines operate on a similar principle, using a small or weakened part of a pathogen, such as a virus, to help the immune system recognize it as a threat.
The problem is that developing highly personalized vaccines currently takes months, and the cost of vaccines in the U.S. is extremely high — around $100,000 per patient.
AI is expected to be able to detect cancer at an early stage, significantly speeding up vaccine production and reducing costs.
Despite criticism and skepticism, the new cancer treatment method is likely to become a long-awaited breakthrough in the medical community, as cancer incidence worldwide is on the rise.
From 1990 to 2019, the number of cancer cases among young people worldwide increased by 79%, with mortality rising by 28%, and according to studies, by 2030 the number of diagnoses is expected to grow by 31%, while mortality will increase by 21%.
There is a rising incidence of various types of cancer among individuals under 50 on almost all continents, which is particularly alarming, as this demographic typically has the disease detected at later stages since most doctors are not trained to look for it in young people.
Experts have long speculated that the reason for this increase could be a rise in obesity rates, earlier cancer diagnoses, as well as diets high in fats, alcohol consumption, and tobacco use.
Trump's announcement is one of a long series of changes in healthcare that the new president has implemented just days into his second term.
Shortly after the inauguration, Trump also exited the World Health Organization for the second time, raising concerns among experts that the effectiveness of combating global diseases such as AIDS, malaria, polio, and tuberculosis could be severely impacted.