Artificial intelligence (AI) often raises concerns about privacy and deception apropos of facial recognition and forged entities. However, the massive outbreak of the novel coronavirus is now driving most of the technology companies and experts to look for AI’s abet.
Since the first report of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China – the virus has now spread to at least 100 other countries. Nevertheless, the undisclosed information holds the key to the certainty that the artificial intelligence warning system, run by Toronto startup “BlueDot” flagged a news report from China about enigmatic pneumonia distressing the residents of Wuhan, back in December 2019. As China leans on its strong technology sector, specifically artificial intelligence and data science to track and combat this pandemic, tech leaders like Alibaba, and Huawei chose to accelerate their company’s healthcare initiatives. Consequently, tech startups are integrally involved with medics and government officials on the global level to trigger technology as the virus continues to feast on many other countries.
Here’s a list of ways how artificial intelligence, data science, and technology are helping us combat COVID-19.
AI Predicts Outbreaks
Let’s face it, the only effectual way to fight off this virus is to track it and AI can slickly learn to detect an outbreak by scrutinizing news reports and social media platforms. Canadian startup, BlueDot, offers that particular service – as it tracks infectious disease risks by using AI and even alerted about the current pandemic several days before the World Health Organization (WHO) issued its public warnings.
China Uses AI to Diagnose the Virus
An artificial intelligence company under the name “Infervision” has introduced a coronavirus AI solution to assist front-line healthcare staff to detect and screen the disease competently. Due to the excessive workload, imaging departments in healthcare facilities are also being taxed. In addition, the Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, has built an AI-powered diagnosis system that is claimed to be 96% accurate at diagnosing the virus within a few seconds.
Medical Supply Drones
In this pandemic outbreak, drone delivery is the fastest and effective way of getting medical supplies where they need to be. To transport quarantine material and medical samples at minimal risk, Terra Drone is using its unmanned aerial. Moreover, these drones are also being used to monitor public places and for thermal imaging.
Sterilization Robots
Since robots can’t be exposed to the virus, they are being deployed to cleaning, sterilizing and delivering food and medicine to reduce the amount of human-to-human interaction. UVD robots use ultraviolet light to kill any kind of bacteria and virus autonomously. In China, Pudu Technology deployed its robots that are being used in the catering industry to over 40 hospitals across the country.
AI Helps to Identify Infected Individuals
China introduced a surveillance system that uses facial recognition technology and temperature detection software to identify people who might have a fever and are more vulnerable to have the virus. Another monitoring system called “Health” uses big data to detect and evaluate the risk of the virus in every individual by using their travel history, amount of time spent in sensitive zones, and exposure to the individuals carrying the virus.
Chatbots
In this global pandemic, AI is just like a sigh of relief. People can now access free online health consultation services through WeChat – operated by Tencent. It is an indispensable communication tool for service providers in the tourism industry as it updates travelers about the latest travel events and disruptions.
Development of Coronavirus Vaccine
The cloud computing resources of major tech companies including Tencent and Huawei are being used by researchers to accelerate the development of a vaccine for the virus. The calculation speed of these systems is much faster than standard computer processing.
Consequently, it’s believed that A.I. systems would help in bringing the fastest and most accurate early-warning system in the near future. Considering the current global pandemic, it is evident that artificial intelligence and data science have played a vital role in dealing with this outbreak.