Artificial Intelligence and COVID-19

Artificial Intelligence has come a long way since the initial applications the technology was developed for, and advancements in the field yet again show another added benefit in the form of detecting COVID-19. Artificial Intelligence applications have been used to detect COVID-19 in patients and distinguish the virus from other diseases such as phenomena and other lung diseases. According to Jun Xia from Shenzhen Second People's Hospital's Department of Radiology, a learning model can be used so AI can accurately differentiate COVID-19 from different types of lung disease, while detecting whether or not one is positive for the virus as well. 

Furthermore, the use of AI is used within contact tracing models to detect where the virus is spread and how severe it is in different given areas. Applications can currently track where the virus is and algorithms are being tested to not only track the virus but also predict where it will spread as well. This not only gives us a better fighting chance against COVID-19 but future pandemics as well. 

Finally, AI and machine learning are being used to accelerate medical drug treatment for COVID-19 to identify potential medications to help act as a treatment for the virus. BenevolentAI used machine learning techniques for this purpose to deduce that Baricitinib, a drug for rheumatoid arthritis, is a strong candidate to inhibit the progression of COVID-19 and is now in clinical phases to act as a treatment as a result.

AI and machine learning have come so far in such a short amount of time, and as a result are helping us deal with real-world problems in more ways than one.