Now artificial intelligence is going to be used for diagnosing the infection of coronavirus.
Researchers at King’s College London, Massachusetts General Hospital and health science company ZOE have together developed an artificial intelligence diagnostic that can predict whether someone is likely to have COVID-19 based on their symptoms.
According to the study, the AI model uses data from the COVID Symptom Study app to predict COVID-19 infection, by comparing people’s symptoms and the results of traditional COVID tests.
The scientists are hoping that this would be helpful especially in the regions where access to testing is limited. Two clinical trials in the UK and the US are due to start shortly.
The researchers analysed data gathered from just under 2.5 million people in the UK and US who had been regularly logging their health status in the app, around a third of whom had logged symptoms associated with COVID-19. Of these, 18,374 reported having had a test for coronavirus, with 7,178 people testing positive.
Researchers suggest that combining this AI prediction with widespread adoption of the app could help to identify those who are likely to be infectious as soon as the earliest symptoms start to appear, focusing tracking and testing efforts where they are most needed.
