Advances in biological AI models have shown promise when it comes formulating new drugs. But can the technology also find ways to treat rare diseases with existing medications?

That’s what researchers at Harvard Medical School set out to learn with a new foundation model designed to do just that. The TxGNN model, described in a recent paper in Nature, is purportedly the first AI system that seeks to pinpoint already approved drugs that might specifically treat rare diseases for which there are currently no treatments on the market.

These diseases might be rare on their own, but taken together, the more than 7,000 conditions classified as such affect around 300 million people worldwide, according to The Lancet. And only 5–7% of these ailments currently have drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Meanwhile, nearly one-third of drugs approved by the FDA end up with more than one approved use later on, often as many as 10 or more, the authors write.

The problem, according to the team, is that discovering these new uses tends to be “a serendipitous and opportunistic endeavor”—doctors more or less stumble upon them in the course of working with patients.

“Predicting the efficacy of all drugs against all diseases would enable us to select drugs with fewer side effects, design more effective treatments targeting multiple points in a disease pathway, and systematically repurpose existing drugs for new therapeutic use,” the authors wrote.

Keep reading here.—PK

If self-driving vehicles are going to play a role in the future of transportation, the public must trust that they’re safe.

Gatik, an autonomous middle-mile logistics startup, is taking another step toward making its case on this, announcing what it described as an industry first: a third-party audit of its safety case for ditching human drivers. The findings will be made public.

This move comes as Gatik attempts to build a business around driverless freight deliveries along routes in North America. It also comes amid heightened scrutiny on the AV industry, which has faced setbacks after some high-profile safety incidents in the robotaxi sector.

“The assessment of our safety case goes beyond a basic review of safety practices and mission statements,” Gatik CEO Gautam Narang said in a statement. “We are assessing our complete autonomous ecosystem to ensure safety in the real world, not just on paper.”

Gatik’s leaders hope to see industry peers follow suit, he added.

Keep reading here.—JG

Between busy work schedules, school bus driver shortages, and unreliable public transit, it’s no wonder that many families struggle to get kids to school before the first bell rings.

Amia Mize understands this challenge all too well; she dealt with it when her daughter switched to a school district that didn’t offer bus services to and from where they lived. At her daughter’s new school, Mize observed other families dealing with the same issue.

“A lot of students missed out on opportunities because they didn’t have the transportation,” she said. “From that moment, I wanted to be boots on the ground, behind the wheel, and do something about it.”

In 2015, Mize founded Takes a Village Transportation (TAVT), which provides door-to-door transportation to around 200 children and families in the Atlanta metro area and will be available via app next year. The company’s services are supported by Samsara, a GPS fleet tracking software and solutions provider that includes features like route optimization and driver coaching.

It’s just one example of transportation tech playing a role in filling transit gaps in the US.

Keep reading here.—JG

Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

Speak now? If you want to teach your dog to talk, there’s a fairly low-tech way to kind of do that: buttons. But buttons aren’t going to let you get existential with your pet. Enter Shazam, a collar with an embedded chatbot.

Wired talked to the collar’s creator about why it exists and what it can do: “You can select your pet’s values, like compassion, justice, and courage. There are settings for its religious beliefs, power of forgiveness, or thoughts on freedom, fate, and destiny. You can give it a take on politics and broad topics like globalism. It is a truly dizzying amount of customization, yet it’s not really clear how much these settings will change what your pet says when it is begging you to let it go outside and take a dump.”

Tech Brew’s puppers have figured out how to get what they need by barking at the back door and making meaningful eye contact with the cabinet where the treats are stored, and we’re not inclined to allow much more agency than that.

Haters gonna hate: As evidenced by the first story in this here newsletter, there are valuable use cases for AI. But the ones being tossed into consumer products? Not to sound like a hater, but for some, they might be more of a hassle than a help. The New York Times’s Brian X. Chen—who we’ve personally found to be more servicey than Google’s AI Overviews—has a guide for opting out.

End game: Subscription fatigue is a real thing, between streaming services, Substacks, apps, games, and more. But realizing you have a problem is only the first step: Once you identify your superfluous subscriptions, getting out of them can be a burdensome and labyrinthine process.

The Federal Trade Commission’s new “click-to-cancel” rule seeks to ameliorate this particular digital headache.

“Too often, businesses make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said. “The FTC’s rule will end these tricks and traps, saving Americans time and money. Nobody should be stuck paying for a service they no longer want.”