Will Artificial Intelligence save us from the Coronavirus ?

The world is at war against the Coronavirus, therefore, all tools, means, and available knowledge are used to tackle the outbreak, and to contain it to prevent any further contagion. The transmission of information is critical to track a pandemic. The Coronavirus outbreak is unique in this sense; it is the first time a pandemic occurs while the use of technologies, data, and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) are massively developed.

The debate around the A.I., whether it is a threat to humanity or maybe a priceless opportunity to elevate our lives, will maybe take a new dimension since countries are left by no choice, at this point, but to put an end to the Coronavirus outbreak.

More than 120,000 people around the world have been infected by the outbreak of coronavirus, and more than 4,300 have died.

In China and in the United States, the use of A.I is seen as a superpower because it is the only way to effectively and quickly combine a massive amount of data to reach two goals: track the development of the virus and help public health centers treat patients.

In 2018, it was noted that the Chinese government was massively spending in A.I. developments, in order to become ‘the world’s primary A.I innovation center’. China’s capitalization on the earlier investments, in A.I.’s Health Care applications in particular, made it easier to diagnose sick patients. Chinese A.I. start-up Yitu Technology, for example, offered A.I.-backed services to analyze scans used by hospitals, health centers, and clinics to diagnose patients suspected of carrying the covid-19.

Moreover, in order to ensure patient testing, online medical consultations were encouraged and developed in close coordination with the Chinese public health authorities.

Thermal scanners used by different employees at train stations and airports to identify people with high body temperatures were also helpful in detecting and tracking virus carriers. Combining thermal scanning with face detection, body detection, and dual-sensing is also a solution the Chinese A.I. start-up, Yitu Technology, is currently working on.

China is also using A.I. as a surveillance tool. Analyzing text messages exchanged that reveal the travel history of an individual, and then sharing them on social media allowed Chinese people to know if they have been in contact with a coronavirus carrier. The highly detailed information that was released was also exploited to create a mandatary mobile application named “Close Contact Detector,” that emitted a Q.R. code for each individual to ensure that they have not been in contact with a coronavirus infected individual.

It is also important to note that other predictive A.I. models were developed to help Public Health Care Centers in Southeastern China to predict future outbreaks.

In the United States, researchers are trying to find solutions to handle the contagion. In Boston, for instance, the use of machine learning by Boston Children’s Hospital was valuable to comb for signs of the virus outside of China through social media and data from official public health channels.

Furthermore, John Hopkins University also created a Coronavirus Resource Center, that developed through data mining and A.I. a Geographic Information System that made it easier for anyone in the world and at any time to not only track the outbreak locally, but globally.

The creative use of A.I. or other technologies is today vital for businesses, schools, and even cultural centers to get through this crisis.

For all these reasons, Artificial Intelligence is part of the instruments that are used to handle the Coronavirus pandemic, and is so far playing a significant role in doing so by: assuring Wall Street that the situation is under control, not suffocating businesses, providing the public, private, and non-profit actors with a new innovative way to operate, and in appeasing the public opinion.

The world is, however, still experimenting on how it can effectively be managed and how it can be implemented in a broader Public Health strategy. As long as humans control the narrative, the A.I. will remain a safe tool, unless future developments show us the contrary.