A new artificial intelligence tool, called EVEscape, can forecast how viruses will mutate and evade the human immune system. Researchers from Oxford and Harvard say the tool could have predicted the Covid-19 variants that drove the pandemic.

EVEscape uses a deep-learning model and biological data to estimate how likely a viral mutation is to escape immune responses, such as antibodies. The tool was tested with data from February 2020 and correctly predicted the most common SARS-CoV-2 mutations.

The researchers hope the tool will help design vaccines that can target future variants of concern. They say the tool is “predicting the future” and has “tremendous value” for pandemic surveillance and prevention.