AI for Good in a Pandemic Era
VoiceSignals #21— Musings on Voice tech news
We’ve all read about how AI may be weaponized, or how the data that is used to build its models can be biased and discriminative. While there’s a lot to be debated and …regulated in the end, we must not overlook the many ways AI can be used for good. During our monthly #EmotionAIChat(s) on Twitter, there’s always a question on how AI can be used for the greater good or specifically to help struggling industries during this COVID-19 pandemic. So we decided to dig a bit and see what’s out there…
Predicting COVID19 — Scientists used AI to find 3 tell tale signs that predict the disease. The algorithms discovered 3 changes in the body that precipitate severe illness: Body aches, levels of enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and hemoglobin levels. The AI figured out these 3 features were the most accurate at predicting a severe COVID-19 case. The algorithm showed a 70%-80% accuracy at predicting the risk of acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS).
Treatment Drugs — Companies like BenevolentAI are using AI to find links between the genetic and biological properties of diseases and the composition and action of drugs. They’re not the only ones. Most pharmaceuticals are using AI to analyze the compatibility of known drugs in order to repurpose them for COVID-19, as is the case with Remdesivir.
Protein Library — Deep Mind has released a deep-learning library called AlphaFold, which uses neural networks to predict how the proteins that make up an organism curve and fold, based on their genome. Protein structures determine the shape of receptors in an organism’s cells. Once you know what shape the receptor is, it becomes possible to work out which drugs could bind to them and disrupt vital processes within the cells. By analyzing the COVID-19 genome their library is now being used by others to predict more protein structures, some of which are open-source projects.
Predicting Disease Outbreaks — HealthMap, an AI system at the Boston Children’s Hospital scans online news and social media reports to predict health outbreaks. It sounded the alarm on December 30th, regarding Coronavirus, very close to the first human New York epidemiologist Marjorie Pollack who had already started working on her own public alert. While it marked the event as ‘medium seriousness’ it indicates the potentials for our future.
Screening via X-Rays instead of swabs — Canadian startup DarwinAI has developed a neural network that can screen X-rays for signs of COVID-19 infection. While using swabs from patients is the default for testing for coronavirus, analyzing chest X-rays could offer an alternative to hospitals that don’t have enough staff or testing kits to process all their patients quickly.
Autonomous stores — California-based AiFi leverages AI computer vision on their platform to manage inventory for small and larger stores. They’re not alone working with computer vision, Amazon Go, TwentyBN, and several others are working on similar technology. In an era where supermarkets are on the front-line of the chain-supply, no one wants to see disruptions that can end in “toilet paper wars” again!
Stay safe and do join our next Twitter Chat, AI, and the Future of Retail, Wednesday, July 22nd, at 9:30 pm PDT. Use #EmotionAIChat to join.
In the news…
Gartner includes Behavioral AI Case-Study
The report, on the advancements in emotion, AI technology implementation published by Gartner and titled 3 Best Practices for Product Managers to Drive Adoption of Emotion AI Technology (ID: G00717124), names Behavioral Signals as an emotion AI vendor in voice-based emotion analysis that deployed a commercial product that succeeded in performing robust results. Analysts Annette Zimmermann and Brian Doherty conducted the research which was published on June 11, 2020. Read more >
How AI Is Transforming Call Centers with Actionable Insights
Call centers have long been performance-based, relying on a combination of careful scripting and keen oversight to maximize the first-call resolution and reduce call times. AI is making it possible to do this at scale in ways never before possible. By providing real-time feedback on customer response, predictive analytics to identify when intervention is needed, and in-depth analysis of call data to improve call matching and overall performance, AI is transforming the modern call center. Read here >
Voice is Leading The Charge For Creating A New Normal
Mark Persaud, a digital product designer, and innovationist write on Hackernoon how the pandemic has changed peoples’ technology preferences with a focus on voice-enabled devices. He discusses what users do with these devices, during the pandemic, and how they may use it in the upcoming future, like checking their health or managing their education and shopping. He ends saying [ Now is the time for businesses to watch changing consumer behavior closely. The time to invest in voice is now. Don’t wait until “we get through this.” The dawn of a new day is on the horizon..] Read more >
