Artificial Intelligence seems capable of everything; no wonder it’s been adopted in all industries. In healthcare, for instance, AI has automated various processes such as consultation. It has enhanced the accuracy of diagnosis while personalizing treatments. However, is AI capable of predicting and preventing global pandemics? Throughout history, pandemics have caught us off-guard and resulted in millions of fatalities. However, we should at least have a fighting chance with a powerful tool such as AI.
Why AI Can’t Help Predict Future Pandemics
To some extent, AI can predict and prevent global pandemics, but there are limitations. AI’s predictive abilities are purely based on historical data. Therefore, for it to predict a particular pandemic, it must have occurred in the past. This is why the answer to the above question is a big MAYBE!
AI’s Overreliance on Past Data
AI relies on data that has been fed by researchers and engineers. Therefore, the technology has a limited scope of human history regarding pandemics. No matter how powerful AI algorithms are, they can’t accurately predict global pandemics without relevant data.
It’s not just global pandemics; AI tools find it challenging to predict terror events and even sports fixtures. If AI were that powerful, bookies would make millions of losses weekly.
Pandemics Are Rare
The other problem with global pandemics is that they are rare events. The fact that AI needs lots of data to make accurate predictions means that more pandemics would need to occur. This isn’t something that people would be interested in experimenting with.
Some Pandemics Are Constantly Evolving
It’s also important to note that pandemics are constantly mutating and changing. Influenza and Measles are some notable examples. This can make it difficult for AI tools to keep up with assessments and datasets unless they are continuously updated in real time. Something that requires a lot of labor and resources.
Stringent Healthcare Data Policies Worldwide
Another factor that limits AI’s ability to predict and prevent global pandemics is because of the different healthcare data policies across the world. Generally, patient data is considered confidential and shouldn’t be shared with third parties.
Unlike website cookies, people care about who can access their medical records. This restrains the amount of healthcare data AI can access and also raises ethical concerns. We should not forget that there is also a chance for human error when feeding datasets to Artificial Intelligence.
How AI Can Help Predict Future Global Pandemics
Even without enough data, AI isn’t entirely useless when predicting global pandemics. Using technology such as machine language, AI can track tinier details such as the number of doctor appointments or sick days reported by employees in specific demographics.
This information, though minimal, can predict the emergence of a particular pandemic. A relevant case study that proves this hypothesis was the use of AI to track the first signs of the Covid-19 pandemic. AI tools such as Bluedot, Mayo Clinic’s Coronavirus Map Tracking Tool, and HealthMap utilized datasets from news outlets, social media, and healthcare reports to pinpoint the first COVID-19 outbreaks.
Even though AI played a minimal but crucial role in detecting the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn’t very useful in preventing its spread. That’s understandable because AI was not only a relatively new concept in healthcare. However, this was the first global pandemic it had to deal with in real time.
AI Advancements and Future Possibilities
Since AI is way more advanced than it was during the last global pandemic that occurred in 2020, there is hope for prediction and prevention. Modern AI systems are equipped with sensors such as visual and infrared aides.
Cameras and temperature sensors integrated into an AI system can scan people faster. This doesn’t just make the work of healthcare personnel easier but also minimizes patient volumes. Also, because AI has automated various tasks, it has minimized contact between people, which is crucial for preventing the spread of diseases and pandemics. AI robots can transport food and medicine to homes and offices. Artificial Intelligence can also prevent the spread of fake news that might cause panic during pandemics.
The Key Takeaway
We are still in the early stages of AI applications in healthcare. Therefore, we can’t say for certain that AI can predict and prevent global pandemics. The future, however, seems promising. As this technology advances and more data is fed into Artificial Intelligence, one day, it may be capable of predicting diseases and providing effective preventive measures. Should this happen, AI can save a lot of lives. In the meantime, AI developers must work together and reevaluate international healthcare data-sharing policies.