When artificial intelligence (AI) meets organoids and organs-on-chips (OoCs): Game-changer for drug discovery and development?

Research and development (R & D) of new drugs is a core engine driving medical progress and plays a crucial role in shaping human health and well-being. Challenges to the conventional drug discovery and development (DDD) pipeline include high cost, long duration, and unsatisfactorily high drug attrition rates. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) and organoids/organs-on-chips (OoCs) have emerged as revolutionary toolboxes for potentially transforming therapeutic development. By analyzing large-scale datasets and complicated biological networks, AI promises to significantly impact modern drug innovation. Organoids/OoCs are emerging in vitro biological models that mimic the essential characteristics of human organs and tissues, offering potentially unparalleled physiological relevance and predictive power for in vitro disease modeling and pharmaceutical development. Over the past few years, several AI- or/and organoids/OoCs-discovered drugs have entered clinical trials, signaling the dawn of a new era of DDD. Notably, utilizing AI and organoids/OoCs simultaneously combines the best of both worlds and represents an innovative strategy to potentially expedite DDD. In this Perspective, we briefly introduce the general concepts of AI and organoids/OoCs, explore their state-of-the-art applications in DDD, and discuss why and how their synergistic impacts can revolutionize the R & D of new drugs. We also address current limitations and propose potential solutions to propel this innovative approach forward.