Mediaboss Marketing

From the personal to the professional and the micro to the macro-economic, the pandemic has highlighted just how crucial the state of global health and the policies that underpin it are to our collective survival and prosperity. Perhaps lesser appreciated, but certainly no less significant, is just how big a part Artificial Intelligence has to play, says a leading expert in the field.

Weve had an unprecedented amount of sharing of data globally, of live daily updates on data across the board, whether it has to do with death rates or infection rates. In the UK, we had our live tracker, we have track-and-trace that also collected data. All of this is underpinning the work that was being done to fight Covid. It is also what is ultimately the foundation for artificial intelligence, says Aldo Faisal, Professor of AI and Neuroscience at the Departments of Computing and Bioengineering at Imperial College London.

Prof Faisal leads the Brain and Behaviour Lab, which uses and develops statistical AI techniques to analyse data and predict behaviour, as well as producing medical-related robotics. Last year he was awarded a five-year UK Research and Innovation Turing AI Fellowship to develop an "AI Clinician" that will help doctors make complex decisions and relieve pressure on the NHS.

Having spent years harnessing the power of AI to develop better health care, Covid-19 was certainly no exception and Prof Faisal redirected a large portion of his labs resources to the national effort at the outset of the pandemic.

Just last month he and a team of researchers revealed their work in using machine learning to predict which Covid-19 patients in intensive care units might get worse and not respond positively to being turned on to their stomachs a technique that is commonly used to improve oxygenation of the lungs.

This only happened because we look at the trajectories of patients on a daily basis, says Prof Faisal, who first studied in Germany, where he received a number of awards and distinctions, before continuing his education as a Junior Fellow at the University of Cambridge.

In collaboration with a digital healthcare company his lab ran a survey of Covid-19 symptoms worldwide with one million respondents which, though not yet peer-reviewed, has shown that standard Covid-19 symptoms, such as loss of taste and smell, are not consistent across countries.

Suddenly symptoms in Africa or India present themselves very differently from symptoms in Europe. Why is that important? Because we're always talking about asymptomatic transmission, and the challenges [involved], the German-born professor tells The National.

From lung scan imaging for preliminary detection to the rapid review of research and, of course, the worldwide dissemination of mortality figures, algorithms have been deployed far and wide to help better understand and combat the virus.

I've seen things advance in weeks, that would have taken probably a decade to happen. And the question is, how much of that legacy experience from a citizen's viewpoint is going to transform in the long term? What is acceptable? asks Prof Faisal, who is also the Founding Director of the 20 million ($28.3m) UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for Healthcare.

Privacy, data and bias remain the omnipresent issues trailing behind the proliferation of AI across sectors, but a public health emergency like Covid-19 tends for better or worse to quieten such resistance.

There is a massive shortage of doctors worldwide. What AI can do is address some of the unmet personnel needs

Nevertheless, ardent proponents of AI welcome the legislative safeguards and frameworks they say would help foster greater trust among the public, as well as increased collaboration among institutions.

Addressing an online forum of AI Healthcare experts earlier this year, the Conservative MP and former Minister of State, George Freeman, said governments had a difficult but important role to play in instilling excitement instead of fear into the public. The big challenge in this space is to create a trust framework where people out on the streets can have confidence that this big system for using massive computer power to find value in the healthcare system is working for them, not on them, said the founder of Reform for Resilience, an international initiative aimed at promoting strategic reform of health care.

Mr Freeman said the steady rise in the wellness and wearable technology in healthcare industries suggests people are increasingly willing to take responsibility for their health but needed better architecture to do so.

We need to set some global international protocols and standards for what is and is not legitimate good practice use of AI, he said at the online forum.

I think we need to frame AI within a UK system approach in which the public would have real trust that we're going to embed that properly in a system that will make the sacrifices of this last year mean that the next generation don't have to experience it.

Regardless of where the legislation is going, the increased integration of health care with personal digital technologies is unlikely to turn back. Utilising AI does not, however, mean dispensing with doctors and medical professionals, says Amr Nimer, a neurosurgeon at Imperial College NHS Trust and a colleague of Prof Faisal.

There is a massive shortage of doctors worldwide. What AI can do is address some of the unmet personnel needs. The idea behind the deployment of AI agents is not to replace doctors or healthcare professionals, but to help automate some of the tasks that can be done much more efficiently by machines, so that we as healthcare professionals can concentrate on actual patient care. AI will augment, rather than replace, healthcare professionals, Mr Nimer told The National.

Over the past year the Dubai-born neurosurgeon has been working with Prof Faisal in the Brain Behaviour Lab on a project to train surgeons using AI.

It's based on the principles of economy of movement and surgical efficacy. We use state-of-the art motion sensors to collect movement data from expert surgeons, and then utilise AI algorithms to answer the questions: what defines manual surgical expertise, or what makes an expert, an expert? What does behavioural data show us about the manual skills of surgical experts [versus] novices? Once we have an entirely data-driven objective definition of expertise in a particular procedure, we can use AI algorithms to help junior surgeons perform that procedure much more efficiently on models, rather than practising on patients first, Mr Nimer said.

Showing the wide applicability of AI, this research project shares similar research principles with that undertaken by Prof Faisals team last year with Formula E World Champion, Lucas di Grassi. Wearing a wireless electroencephalogram helmet to track his brain activity, the racing drivers eye and body movements were monitored under real-time extreme conditions. The first-time experiment aimed to better understand how an expert driver performs, so that more targeted and useful information can be given to self-driving cars.

After more than a year responding to the severities of Covid-19, the healthcare system is overwhelmingly strained. The long-term direct and indirect health effects of the virus are still revealing themselves, but initial assessments suggest a long road of continued care ahead and waiting times to treat other illnesses are now several years long. Healthcare facilities will need a huge injection of both human and financial capital, as well as the latest technology has to offer in order to cope.

The crisis precipitated a hastening of AIs foray into the medical sphere with an unprecedented sharing of data and collaboration across institutions. With medics facing ominous healthcare challenges for years to come, former sceptics may now be more willing to embrace tech that can lessen the burden. It remains to be seen, however, whether the government can provide the necessary regulatory framework to protect the interests of both the patient and the professional.

Go here to see the original:
How Artificial Intelligence has played a major role in fighting Covid - The National

JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --ElectrifAi, one of the world's leading companies in practical artificial intelligence (AI) and pre-built machine learning (ML) models, announced today its collaboration with Temple Health,which is a leadingPhiladelphia-based academic health system that is driving medical advances through clinical innovation, pioneering research and world-class education.Temple Health will leverage ElectrifAi's pre-built machine learning models for spend and contract to drive operational efficiency, cost savings, spending control, increased revenue and risk reduction.

ElectrifAi's 17 years of practical machine learning expertise with regard to spend analytics, contract management, customer/patient engagement and machine learning models will help optimize and improve the operations of Temple Health.

Edward Scott, CEO of ElectrifAi said: "For years, our customers in financial services, telecommunications and retail have been leveraging practical machine learning. It was only a matter of time before we integrated pre-built machine learning models into the healthcare environment. The healthcare community can now accelerate their machine learning efforts with our solutions to drive revenue uplift, cost reduction as well as profit and performance improvements in today's fast-changing business climate."

"ElectrifAi's advanced technology will significantly facilitate efficient contracting and financial accounting for Temple Health, with increased data-driven granularity," said Michael A. Young, MHA, FACHE, President and CEO of Temple University Health System and Temple University Hospital. "We look forward to a productive working relationship."

About ElectrifAi

ElectrifAi is a global leader in business-ready machine learning models. ElectrifAi's mission is to help organizations change the way they work through machine learning: driving revenue uplift, cost reduction as well as profit and performance improvement. Founded in 2004, ElectrifAi boasts seasoned industry leadership, a global team of domain experts, and a proven record of transforming structured and unstructured data at scale. A large library of Ai-based products reaches across business functions, data systems, and teams to drive superior results in record time. ElectrifAi has approximately 200 data scientists, software engineers and employees with a proven record of dealing with over 2,000 customer implementations, mostly for Fortune 500 companies. At the heart of ElectrifAi's mission is a commitment to making Ai and machine learning more understandable, practical and profitable for businesses and industries across the globe. ElectrifAi is headquartered in New Jersey, with offices located in Shanghai and New Delhi. To learn more visitwww.electrifAi.netand follow us on Twitter@ElectrifAiand onLinkedIn.

About Temple Health

Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $2.2 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System includes Temple University Hospital (TUH);TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Jeanes Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; Temple University Hospital Fox Chase Cancer Center Outpatient Department; TUH-Northeastern Endoscopy Center; The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center, together with The Institute for Cancer Research, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Fox Chase Cancer Center Medical Group, Inc., The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center's physician practice plan; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices; and Temple Faculty Practice Plan, Inc., TUHS's physician practice plan. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine. TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providersaffiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents.

Non-discrimination notice: It is the policy of Temple University Hospital and The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center, that no one shall be excluded from or denied the benefits of or participation in the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.

SOURCE ElectrifAi

https://electrifai.net

Go here to read the rest:
Temple University Health System Selects ElectrifAi's Practical Artificial Intelligence Solutions to Improve Financial Performance and Reduce Risk -...

US President Joe Biden yesterday announced a goal for 70 percent of the adult US population to have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot by July 4.

Cities are playing a key role in this historic vaccination effort, not only in terms of logistics and administration but also with respect to the critical component of resident engagement.

To maximise vaccine uptake, local governments are working to mitigate any resident concerns; to counter misinformation and distrust; and to clear up confusion about practicalities. To do this effectively they need to understand in close to real-time and at scale how citizens are feeling about vaccines.

Thats why nineteen US cities and counties, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Newark, are using advanced sentiment analysis to help shape and scale their vaccine programmes.

The initiative is a collaboration between Israeli start-up Zencity and the Harvard Kennedy Schools Ash Center, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and support from Bennet Midland.

Through the programme, the cities and counties are using Zencitys tools to collect and analyse organic feedback from publicly available sources such as social media posts, online channels and local news sites, alongside proactive resident input from community surveys.

Zencity uses artificial intelligence (AI) to classify and sort the data to identify key topics, trends, anomalies, and sentiment.

Each city will receive a report including insights on how opinions about the vaccine break down across demographic groups; trends and themes in community sentiment toward vaccination; misinformation that might need to be addressed; and recommendations for how to communicate about vaccines. Each citys results are benchmarked against the average results from the cohort.

Assaf Frances, Director of Urban Policy, Zencity,said: These results will enable cities to make data-informed decisions as they continue to navigate vaccine rollout. This could mean anything from making the appointment scheduling process more accessible if the results show that logistical hurdles have been a major barrier to mass vaccination, to providing more education around vaccine safety and efficacy to a particular segment of the population where the data is showing more hesitancy.

Deana Gamble, Communications Director, City of Philadelphia, told Cities Today: Were currently in a pivotal moment where vaccine supply has never been greater yet there is still a significant amount of vaccine hesitancy, especially among communities of colour. We need to provide accurate and up-to-date information to those who are still unsure about the benefits of getting the vaccine and how to do so.

With this in mind, Philadelphia has launched the six-month #VaxUpPhilly marketing campaign.

Gamble said one key insight from Zencity was that Philadelphia residents report similar levels of intention to get the vaccine as the cohort average, but they are more likely to wait longer.

This speaks to intention to get vaccinated yet less urgency with residents indicating that they require more information or evidence, specifically by seeing more people they know get the vaccine, Gamble commented. This shows us that the education efforts of our #VaxUpPhilly campaign including use of myth busters and trusted, credible messengers are critical.

Philadelphia faced controversy early in its vaccine rollout. In January, the city cut ties with Philly Fighting COVID, a young start-up which was running the citys largest vaccination site, after it emerged the company had cancelled testing efforts and become a for-profit entity, and concerns were raised about its privacy policy. Philly Fighting COVID said it had the best intentions and had not sold or shared any data but the incident was still damaging for the city.

Gamble said: We certainly acknowledge the mistakes the administration made working with the group which has necessitated rebuilding trust with the public about our vaccination programme. The insights gleaned from Zencity can help us better communicate with residents, which can help us overcome the challenges caused by Philly Fighting COVID.

Liana Elliott, Deputy Chief of Staff for New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, said that although New Orleans vaccine rollout is going well, we also are hitting our plateau a little bit earlier than we thought.

Understanding nuances around vaccine sentiment can help the city push through this.

Generally, the hesitancy that we thought we were going to find was not nearly as prevalent in the communities that we expected, Elliott commented, noting lower levels of concern than anticipated in communities of colour and more of a tendency for conservative white men to have reservations.

Further, as in Philadelphia, while many people are willing to get vaccinated, some dont want to go first.

Elliott said: We worked really hard to make sure that we are working with our community partners and getting proactive about talking to people about the vaccine and bringing vaccine events into communities.

This includes encouraging people to share when they have been vaccinated on social media, urging hospitality businesses to incentivise and support staff vaccinations and making the inoculation process a positive one. For example, a brass band played to mark the opening of the vaccination site at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and local bars hosted shots for shots events, which Elliott described as very New Orleans.

These approaches have really encouraged people to go check it out and just go get [their vaccination] done, she said.

The Zencity analysis has also helped New Orleans to shape vaccine messages and understand who are the trusted ambassadors best placed to deliver them.

Research published in March by global communications company Edelmanfound that US residents most trust doctors, scientists and public health officials about vaccine information and are more likely to trust someone like themselves or their organisations CEO than a government official. However, Zencity data showed that New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is one of the most trusted messengers for residents.

Feedback also highlighted some ways the city needed to simplify appointment booking. It then analysed sentiment to check the improvements were working, and this is a continuous process.

If we start seeing more chatter about [something being] hard or [people not knowing] when or where to go, then that means something is broken in that chain of communication we have got to go back and fix it, Elliott said.

She added that a key benefit of the programme with Zencity is: It really helps us confirm that what we are seeing and experiencing anecdotally and locally as staff is in fact holding up across not only our city but across the country and across all the other cohort cities as well.

Sometimes its not necessarily that it informs or changes how were doing things but it affirms that were going the right way and that what were doing is working, she said.

A national report on getting residents on board with vaccinations will be published by Zencity, Harvard Kennedy Schools Ash Center, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Bennett Midlandlater this month.

Image: City of New Orleans

Like what you are reading? Register now to get FREE access to premium content and to receive our newsletter.

LoginRegister

Originally posted here:
How US cities are using artificial intelligence to boost vaccine uptake - Cities Today

Although the COVID-19 pandemic affected many areas of industry, it did not lessen the impact of Artificial Intelligence in their daily lives. Thus, we can assume that AI-powered solutions will undoubtedly become more widely used in 2021 and beyond.

Here are the top 10Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation trends to watch out for this year:

Knowledge will become more available in the coming years, putting digital data at higher risk of being hacked and vulnerable to hacking and phishing attempts. AI and new technologies will help the security service in combating malicious activities in all areas. With strengthened safety initiatives, AI can help prevent cybercrime in the future.

More unstructured data will be organized in the future using natural language processing and machine learning methods. Organizations can take advantage of these technologies to generate data that can be used by RPA (Robotic Process Automation) technology to automate transactional operation. RPA is one of the tech industrys fastest-growing segments. Its only drawback is that it can only work with structured data. Unstructured data can be easily translated into structured data with the aid of AI, resulting in a valuable performance.

Many industries and companies have deployed AI-powered chatbots in the previous years. Better customer service automation is possible with AI chatbots. These conversational AI chatbots will begin to learn and develop their understanding and communication with customers in 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic is quickly shifting automation priorities away from front-end processes toward back-end processes and business resilience. Intelligent Automation can, in reality, combine robotic and digital process automation with practical AI and low-code devices. While growing their operations, these innovations will help companies become more competitive and robust.

Quantum AI is set to grow in popularity as more businesses seek to implement the technology in supercomputers. Using quantum bits, quantum computers can tackle any possible problem much faster than traditional computers. This can be useful for processing and analyzing large sets of data in real-time, as well as rapidly predicting specific patterns. In the next decade, quantum AI is predicted to make significant advances in fields such as healthcare and banking.

RPA is one of the most revolutionary AI systems for automating repetitive tasks. On the desktop, it can effectively execute a high-volume, repetitive process without making a mess. Its possible that the job entails invoicing a customer. Furthermore, it can repeat the process several times a day, freeing up human time for more productive activities.

AI is now assisting the healthcare industry in a significant way and with high precision. AI can help healthcare facilities in a variety of ways by analyzing data and predicting different outcomes. AI and machine learning tools provide insights into human health and also propose disease prevention measures. AI technologies also enable doctors to monitor their patients wellbeing from far away, thereby enhancing teleconsultation and remote care.

Artificial intelligence is a wonderful technology that, when combined with the power of the Internet of Things (IoT), can provide a powerful business solution. The convergence of these two technologies in 2021 would lead to significant changes in the automation domain.

Face recognition technology will evolve at a rapid pace in 2021 as a result of the recent Covid-19 problems. It uses biometrics to identify facial characteristics from photographs and videos, and then compares the information to an existing database.

Businesses can use edge computing to convert their daily data into actionable insights. It provides servers and storing data solutions for computers and apps to ensure a smooth operation while allowing for real-time data processing that is much more efficient than cloud computing. Edge computing will also improve the efficiency of cloud servers because it can be carried out on nodes.

Share This ArticleDo the sharing thingy

Read more from the original source:
Top 10 Artificial Intelligence Innovation Trends to Watch Out For in 2021 - Analytics Insight

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed many aspects of our lives for the better. It even played a role in developing vaccines against COVID-19. But you may be surprised just how many things we take for granted that rely on AI.

As IBM explain, "at its simplest form, artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets to enable problem-solving." It includes the sub-fields of machine learning and deep learning. These two fields use algorithms that are designed to make predictions or classifications based on input data.

This is how AI is used in our everyday lives.

Image: European Parliament

Of course, as technology becomes more sophisticated, literally millions of decisions need to be made every day and AI speeds things up and takes the burden off humans. The World Economic Forum describes AI as a key driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Forecasted shipments of edge artificial intelligence (AI) chips worldwide in 2020 and 2024, by device.

Image: Statista

The Forums platform, Shaping the Future of Technology Governance: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, is bringing together key stakeholders to design and test policy frameworks that accelerate the benefits and mitigate the risks of AI and machine learning.

Here are 10 examples of AI we encounter every day.

Your email provider almost certainly uses AI algorithms to filter mail into your spam folder. Quite helpful when you consider that 77% of global email traffic is spam. Google says less than 0.1% of spam makes it past its AI-powered filters.

But there are concerns that algorithms that read content to target advertising are invading our privacy.

AI automates a host of functions on your smartphone, from predictive text that learns the words you commonly use to voice-activated personal assistants which listen to the world around them and try to learn your keywords.

The way your phone screen adjusts to ambient light or the battery life is optimized is also down to AI. But if the personal assistant absorbs everything you say, whether youre on the phone or not, some critics say it creates opportunities for surveillance, however benign the intention.

In many parts of the world, online and app-based banking are the norm. From onboarding new customers and checking their identity to countering fraud and money laundering, AI is in charge. Want a loan? An AI-powered system will assess your creditworthiness and decide.

This is how AI is used in banking.

Image: Business Insider

AI also monitors transactions and AI chatbots can answer questions about your account. More than two-thirds of banks in a recent survey by SAS Institute say they use AI chatbots and almost 63% said they used AI for fraud detection.

Going for an x-ray? Forget the idea of a clinician in a white coat studying the results. The initial analysis is most likely to be done by an AI algorithm. In fact they turn out to be rather good at diagnosing problems.

In a trial, an AI algorithm called DLAD beat 17 out of a panel of 18 doctors in detecting potential cancers in chest x-rays.

However, critics say AI diagnosis must not become an impenetrable black box. Doctors need to know how they work in order to trust them. Issues around privacy, data protection and fairness have also been raised.

As in banking, chatbots are also being deployed in healthcare to engage with patients - for example, to book an appointment - or even as virtual assistants to physicians. This presents numerous issues though, from miscommunication to wrong diagnoses.

The World Economic Forum's Chatbots RESET programme brings together stakeholders from multiple areas to explore these opportunities and challenges to govern the use of chatbots.

AI is at the heart of the drive towards autonomous vehicles, adoption of which has accelerated due to the pandemic. Delivery services are one area being targeted, while China now has a robotaxi fleet operating in Shanghai.

There are still safety issues to be ironed out, however. There have been accidents involving self-driving cars, some of them fatal.

The Netherlands is the best prepared for autonomous cars.

Image: Statista

Conventional trackside railway signals are being replaced by AI-powered in-cab signalling systems which automatically control trains. The European Train Control System allows more trains to use the same stretch of track while maintaining safe distances between them.

To date, the use of AI in controlling aircraft has been limited to drones, although flying taxis that use AI to navigate have already been flight-tested. Experts say a human is still better at flying an airliner but AI is widely used in route planning, optimizing schedules and managing bookings.

7. Ride sharing and travel apps

Ride sharing apps use AI to resolve the conflicting needs of drivers and passengers. The latter want a ride immediately, while drivers value their freedom to start and stop working when they choose. Learning how these patterns interact, AI can send you a ride when you ask for it.

Travel apps use AI to personalize what they offer users as algorithms learn our preferences. Hotel search engine Trivago even bought an AI platform that customizes search results based on the users social media likes.

Uncanny how social media seems to know what you like, isnt it? Of course, its all down to AI. Facebooks machine learning can recognize your face in pictures posted on the platform, as well as everyday objects to target content and advertising that interests and engages you.

Job seekers using LinkedIn benefit from AI which analyzes their profile and engagement with other users to offer job recommendations. The platform says AI is woven into the fabric of everything that we do.

Unexpected breakdowns are every factory managers nightmare. So AI is playing a key role in monitoring machine performance, enabling maintenance to be planned rather than reactive. Experts say its cutting the time machines are offline by 75% and repair costs by almost a third.

AI can also predict changes in demand for products, optimizing production capacity. AI is currently used in about 9% of factories worldwide but Deloitte says 93% of companies believe AI will be a pivotal technology to drive growth and innovation in the sector.

Google says AI can enhance the value of wind power by 20%.

Image: Pixabay/enriquelopezgarre

10. Regulating power supply

Wind and solar power may be green but what happens when the wind doesnt blow and the sky is cloudy? AI-powered smart technology can balance supply and demand, controlling devices like water heaters to ensure they only draw power when demand is low and supply plentiful.

Googles DeepMind created an AI neural network trained using weather forecasts and turbine data to predict the output from a wind farm 36 hours ahead. By making output to the power grid more predictable, Google says it increased the value of its wind energy by 20%.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Read the original post:
Did you know these 10 everyday services rely on AI? - World Economic Forum