In a podcast interview, Moderna President Stephen Hoge said that AI can accelerate drug discovery, but even if efficiency in areas such as drug design improves, drugs still must be validated for efficacy and duration of action through human clinical observation—and AI cannot simultaneously shorten the timelines of subsequent stages such as drug manufacturing, clinical validation, and regulatory approval. Recalling his experience joining Moderna, Hoge noted that the rapid rollout of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine relied on the company's years of sustained accumulation in mRNA technology. He is particularly optimistic about AI's potential to support personalized medicine. Citing Moderna's investigational personalized cancer vaccine as an example, he explained that this type of therapy—tailored to individual patient differences—requires AI to help analyze tumor mutations, select therapeutic targets, and design mRNA sequences, with only about six weeks from obtaining tumor samples to producing a customized vaccine. The underlying technology has been in development for many years, and the company is expanding its corresponding small-scale, replicable production capacity, which is already close to the level required for commercialization. He also noted that realizing AI-enabled pharmaceutical R&D requires the biomedical field to simultaneously increase investment in funding, R&D, and production resources. Moderna's previous influenza vaccine project received relevant funding support, and the final trial succeeded and was recently approved by the FDA for marketing.