All technology is being considered when it comes to finding a cure for the COVID-19 outbreak. The Wall Street Journal brought this topic to our attention in their article, “Smartphone Coronavirus Test? Apps Would Listen to Your Cough.”
Technology already tracks much of our life – our travel, our communications, our purchases. Smartphones are a source of much of that data, so now some researchers are betting the devices can also be trained to detect whether we are infected with the new coronavirus.
Several teams of artificial intelligence (AI) researchers are working toward systems that could help spot the disease through people’s breathing, coughing and speech. That could be unfortunate for those of us who live in the allergy gateway known as the Ohio Valley.
They are collecting thousands of sound samples from people who have contracted COVID-19 on the hope that the signature respiratory problems can be identified.
Other methods are through the use of social media. If you had lunch with someone and “checked in” via social media and your dining partner was later diagnosed, social media data could help health officials notify you.
These are only a few of the ways AI is being used to fight this invisible war.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
