The coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China, continues deadly. More than 31,000 people have now been contracted in China and 630 people have died, per latest figures released by authorities. As the virus already became a global health emergency, AI researchers are applying machine learning techniques to predict where it may expand elsewhere, so that we can proactively and effectively allocate resources and block the outbreak.
A research group in the UK, led by Professor Andy Tatem of the University of Southampton, used anonymized historical data from smartphones, supplied by the Chinese search company Baidu, to model how the virus may have moved out of Wuhan in the early days after it appeared. Another group of researchers used data from Tencent, who owns the popular Chinese app WeChat, to model the contagion, suggesting that the travel restrictions imposed by China may have slowed the spread of the disease by a few days.
However, it is useful to predict where the outbreak may have been expanding next. As reported on Wired, an international team is using machine learning to analyze social media posts, news reports, health public and information supplied by doctors for warning symptoms of the virus. “We are moving to surveillance efforts in the US,” said John Brownstein, CIO of Harvard Medical school and a member on the team. “We’re trying to understand what’s happening in the population at large.”
Alessandro Vespignani, a professor at Northeastern University who specializes in modeling contagion in large populations, says it is difficult due to the lack of historical data. He, however, believes that if the disease spreads more widely in the US, it should become easier to monitor its spread by applying AI.
Indeed, the approach has so far proven capable of spotting a coronavirus needle in a haystack of big data. More information can be found here, including the methods applied.
According to AI application to the society, AI World Society has established AIWS Innovation Network will connect key AI actors and provide services that can assist in the development of AI.