Chapter 30: The AI Vaccine
Chapter 30: The AI Vaccine
A triumphant return.
It means to return to one's hometown in silk clothes.
Strictly speaking, it didn't quite apply to my situation.
I had earned most of my money while working at Arcor, and my investments were in the US.
In any case, I gave gift certificates to the employees who had always been kind to me and bought Park Hwa-young a cordless vacuum cleaner as a wedding gift.
“Are you planning to start a business after you leave?”
“Assistant Manager Kim, have a warm Americano while you work.”
Everyone seemed to have gotten friendlier.
I was thoroughly enjoying chatting with the staff on the rooftop.
Team Leader An spoke to me.
“Assistant Manager Kim, do you want to shorten your handover period?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s obvious what’s on your mind while you’re here. If you don’t need the extra two months’ salary, you can leave sooner.”
He said he had reported my resignation to Director Jung this morning.
At the time, Director Jung’s reaction was…
“Kim Shin? That guy submitted his resignation?”
“Yes. Assistant Manager Kim handed in his notice.”
“Why so suddenly… Don’t tell me it’s because of me?”
“Sir? What do you mean?”
“I did tell him I was seeing her to warn him away from Han Chae-won.”
It was completely unrelated, but a misunderstanding had formed.
Director Jung said that as long as it didn't disrupt work, I could shorten the handover period as much as possible.
Thanks to the long vacation I took at the beginning of the year, Lee Jong-yeop was already handling a significant portion of my duties.
“I’ll complete the handover within two weeks.”
“Then let’s do that.”
Leaving the company I had grown fond of felt like it was happening in the blink of an eye, but when I thought about it, it had been less than five months since I’d discovered crypto.
Life felt like it had sped up dramatically.
* * *
- Chris: Nikola wants to meet as soon as possible! Investment could be anywhere from $10 million to a maximum of $200 million.
I kept up with the news from the US.
As my workload at the company decreased, I continued to study the American stock market.
I had invested $400 million in Netflix.
With my total assets at around $1.03 billion, it was a substantial portion. Part of the reason was that I didn't know many other American stocks.
- FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet) Stocks Surge!
- Netflix Stock Hits All-Time High!
- How Did Netflix Achieve Record Performance Amidst Soaring Stock Prices?
Netflix, one of America’s representative FAANG stocks, had seen a significant rise in its share price.
OTT (Over The Top).
It was thanks to a massive increase in Netflix subscribers and the projection that it would dominate the global broadcasting and film market via the internet.
In just one week, my $400 million had become $520 million.
The return rate wasn't as high as with crypto, but because the investment was so large, my assets had grown by $120 million.
‘Crypto rose entirely on interest and greed, but stocks are backed by performance, so they’re more stable.’
I figured a 98% drop like what happened with crypto was unlikely to occur.
‘It’s better to diversify my investments in FAANG stocks than to leave the money in a bank account.’
I boldly bought more American stocks and decided to get Oh Myeong-woo’s help in researching Nikola.
Just as he had heard a lot about the industry while working at a pharmaceutical company, I figured that working at Google, he would know some experts just a degree or two of separation away.
- Oh Myeong-woo: I’m a busy man.
- Kim Shin: I’ll buy you the latest PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo for the rest of your life, every time a new one comes out.
- Oh Myeong-woo: Between friends? Do I look like I can’t afford my own consoles?
- Kim Shin: Plus 100 game titles of your choice every year.
- Oh Myeong-woo: My good sir, I thank you for your generous offer.
At dawn, I handled my American affairs, and in the morning, I worked at Arcor.
While out on sales calls, I’d eat something delicious with Lee Jong-yeop, and sometimes other team members would join us.
“Let’s go to a good restaurant nearby.”
“I know this area well.”
Something I realized as I was leaving the company…
Lee Jong-yeop’s street smarts at work were far superior to mine.
He apparently knew all the expensive places and best restaurants near the hospitals and had been living well by eating good food on the corporate card.
Five months ago, I would have nagged him, but on the verge of quitting, I found it rather admirable.
“You did a good job not getting caught by Team Leader An.”
“He probably knows, don't you think?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You’re by the book, Assistant Manager Kim. We’re all just trying to make a living. As long as we’re not doing something like cashing out the card, he probably just lets it slide.”
“…”
I used to make excuses that I was timid because I grew up poor and wasn't well-off.
But my trip to the US made me realize something.
Life goes on, one way or another.
Mistakes made from thinking too little can be dealt with as they come.
Thinking too much often led to doing nothing at all.
* * *
A week had passed since I began the handover.
I was able to transfer about 30% of the hospitals I was in charge of to Lee Jong-yeop.
Considering how large my territory was, it was very fast progress.
The hospitals I couldn’t get to in two weeks had low sales and infrequent transactions, so I left them for Lee Jong-yeop to handle as he saw fit.
“You’re going to have your work cut out for you from now on.”
“It’s fine. I don’t work as hard as you do, sir. Visiting five hospitals in three hours? Is that even human?”
When I was trying hard, I made an effort to visit as many hospitals as possible.
I had to raise my performance even slightly to increase my incentives.
Thanks to that, I was usually first or second in the monthly performance reviews.
“So how many did you visit?”
“One every three hours is enough.”
“That’s a bit much, isn’t it? Even Sang-gi doesn’t do that.”
“You just need a decent excuse. There’s no sales without excuses, right? If there are pretty nurses, I’ll chat with them for a bit.”
“You still do that? I heard you’re dating Yoo Hye-ri from the support team.”
“It’s fine.”
“Does Hye-ri understand that sort of thing?”
“If I don’t tell her, she’ll never know.”
“You’re deceiving her.”
“Her not knowing is what brings peace to the relationship. The one who tells is a warmonger.”
To be able to enjoy sales this much… perhaps this was his true calling.
However, I hadn't been able to get in touch with Ellie since she returned to the US. When I occasionally sent a text, I’d get a brief reply a few hours later.
‘She’s probably busy since she’s a new employee.’
I met with President Yoo Seok-tae of Leons again on Tuesday evening.
“You confirmed the deposit, right?”
“I did. Twenty percent of our company’s shares are now yours.”
It was possible to trade shares of unlisted companies through a securities firm.
Once the new factory was running smoothly, further investment was planned.
“By the way, what do you think about artificial intelligence?”
“Artificial intelligence?”
I had invested in Aurora’s self-driving technology in Silicon Valley. All I knew was that the technology improved over time through AI’s deep learning.
“AI is also being applied to the development of vaccines and treatments.”
“Is that so?”
Although I worked for a pharmaceutical company, I was in distribution and sales, so I didn't know much about development.
Even when talking with employees from other pharmaceutical companies that sold medicine, we never discussed vaccine or new drug development.
“The method involves AI analyzing disease genes and finding suitable chemical compounds to apply. It’s hundreds of times more efficient than what humans can do.”
“You seem to know quite a lot about it.”
“It’s a business I’ve been investing in until now.”
Biolife.
A company founded by Dr. Lee Ho-yeon, who had graduated from Stanford’s Department of Electrical Engineering and returned to Korea.
“There’s a team developing an AI that analyzes influenza and creates targeted vaccines. If you have the money, would you be interested in investing in this company? If you want, I can just hand over all of my shares.”
“Is it a place with no chance of success?”
“No. I’m not sure. With consistent investment, it might have potential. But as you know, I’m short on funds.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Even though I had made a fortune from crypto and stocks, I was only willing to invest if there was a reasonable chance of success.
The next day, I received a call from Dr. Lee Ho-yeon and met with him.
He was in his mid-forties.
Having graduated from Stanford, I’d pictured one of the nerds from Silicon Valley, but he wasn’t like that.
He was more like a gaunt skeleton.
Despite his frail body, his eyes were intense, like a man who hadn't eaten in days.
“Do you know why I am trying to develop an influenza vaccine using artificial intelligence? You’ll remember the bird flu, swine flu, SARS, and MERS.”
“Yes, I know of them.”
Each time one of those broke out, it dominated the domestic news.
“New respiratory infectious diseases periodically appear in the Asian region. Influenza, commonly known as the flu, and the coronavirus are over 80% identical. When such respiratory infectious diseases emerge, using AI for genetic analysis and testing chemical compounds, instead of humans doing it, can dramatically shorten the development period for vaccines and treatments.”
“That does make sense.”
Influenza and coronavirus.
Influenza was a common cold that caused a high fever, but we called it the flu, and its symptoms were severe.
If not treated properly, it could lead to complications like pneumonia, and some people would lose their lives.
It was serious enough that tens of thousands to millions of people worldwide died from it every year.
The coronavirus caused respiratory or digestive infections and was widespread not only among humans but also among animals.
The types of corona that affected humans and animals were different, but if an animal-borne corona mutated and began to spread, it could cause severe after-effects.
SARS and MERS were also types of coronavirus.
“When the Spanish flu broke out, over 40 million people lost their lives. In an era like ours, with so much human interaction, the emergence of a powerful virus will push the entire world into a pandemic. I want to prevent such a situation from happening.”
“…”
The founders in Silicon Valley possessed brilliant minds and insight.
They seemed a bit clueless, but underneath they were exceptional geniuses.
Perhaps because of their talent, they were relaxed and overflowing with confidence.
Dr. Lee Ho-yeon was different from that type.
His words carried a resolve, as if he had staked his very life on them.
‘A pandemic…’
I was reminded of a movie I had seen recently.
It was unlikely a movie would become reality, but still.
“How much investment are you looking for?”
“We need 2 billion won annually. However, for smooth research and development, the more investment, the better. Development is being delayed due to a lack of budget.”
“I’ll consider it, then.”
After meeting with Lee Ho-yeon, I went home. Then I posed a question in the group chat with the Silicon Valley founders.
- Kim Shin: Anyone know about Lee Ho-yeon? Says he graduated from Stanford’s electrical engineering department.
- Chris: I know of him. Never met him in person, but I heard about him from my professor.
- Chris: Said he was a genius, enough to publish a paper in an academic journal as a sophomore. My professor was incredibly impressed when he read it.
- Gerald: Never met him. Most people probably haven’t. He lived in the library and the lab.
- Lennon: I heard he went back to attend Johns Hopkins Medical School after finishing his graduate studies.
- Kim Shin: He’s a doctor?
- Lennon: Yep. He should have a medical license.
He certainly seemed like someone remarkable.
AI for influenza, vaccines, and so on.
I posted what I had heard in the group chat.
- Chris: It’s a fascinating research project, but I’m not sure about its commercial viability.
- Kim Shin: Really?
- Chris: Most of what Lee Ho-yeon says is right. Traditional vaccine development takes a long time. You might try 8,000 times to get one success. And it takes 8 to 15 years to get FDA approval and bring it to market. It’s that difficult.
- Chris: Creating a targeted vaccine for a new strain of influenza. Speed is crucial, so using AI is logically sound.
- Chris: If the AI works properly, it could dramatically increase the success rate and shorten the timeline.
- Kim Shin: If it works properly, that is.
- Chris: Yeah. That’s always the key. And things like flu vaccines are all about safety, so he probably won’t be able to break through the barriers put up by the big pharmaceutical companies.
- Lennon: Cancer drugs or diabetes treatments. That’s where the money is.
The profitable pharmaceuticals were firmly in the grip of global pharmaceutical giants.
- Katia: In my opinion…
Katia was the lead AI developer at Aurora. At her young age, she dressed simply and focused only on research and development.
- Katia: It might be useful if a widespread pandemic crisis occurs. Say, if there’s a risk of a new influenza or coronavirus that people have no immunity to.
- Katia: But even if an epidemic breaks out, people don’t necessarily want vaccines or drugs. Safety testing alone would take years.
- Katia: And it’s even possible that existing drugs or treatments might be effective against a new disease.
- Chris: Right. That’s happened many times. It’s better to quickly use a proven, existing treatment, even if it’s less effective, than to develop a better one from scratch.
- Katia: It does seem like research that won’t be very profitable. You’d need the emergence of a new infectious disease, it would have to be highly contagious, and people would need to have no immunity. Even then, existing drugs would have to be ineffective.
- Katia: Then there’s vaccine hesitancy. Government certification could take years, too.
- Katia: Even if he creates a final product, just confirming that the product is correct through clinical trials would cost an enormous amount of money and time. It’s a really vague research project.
The power of collective intelligence was truly something.
If I had gone to Silicon Valley pretending to be a venture capitalist and judging everything, I would never have been able to borrow this kind of wisdom.
It was because I admitted I knew nothing, tried to learn everything I could, and listened intently that this group chat came to be.
Even if they sometimes—or often—talked about things that were difficult for me to understand.
‘Research that’s hard to make money from.’
I couldn't invest in a field with no potential.