How AI is Helping Fight Coronavirus

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Sarah Fane
Head of Research, sharedserviceslink
Mar 31, 2020

In a time when we all need to do our part to get through this pandemic, it’s crucial that we leverage technology to its maximum potential.

Technology is already helping us maintain social distancing, and it has a huge role to play helping healthcare providers

Here are just some ways AI is helping fight the Coronavirus.
 

Assisting Diagnosis

AI has been mainstreamed in medical diagnosis for years now, and companies are stepping up their game in this global pandemic. While many AI tools are expensive, some AI companies have stepped up and are eliminating their fees for COVID-19 research.

Analyzing data 

AI company Automation Anywhere is offering free bots to help healthcare professionals manage increased workloads due to the outbreak. Milan Sheth, Automation Anywhere’s Executive VP for India, the Middle East and Africa said “Bots are software that will be configured within the company’s system in 24 to 48 hours. They can keep a track of infected people, analyse data, find new trends and perform clerical tasks,” in an interview to The National.

AI technology is using GPS powered dashboard to show local statistics, sites of infection, hospital wait times, local availability of masks and other useful information which is updated every few minutes.

Freeing up time 

Sheth also said that “these bots will perform repetitive mundane tasks such as data entry or answering customer queries to free up human employees to tackle more important work … it will boost productivity and save time.”

Aggregating and analyzing research

Wired reports that in the last 4 months, there have been about 2,000 research papers on the health effects of the new virus, possible treatments, and the dynamics of the Coronavirus pandemic. Governments and companies are looking at leveraging AI to mine through the huge volume of research “By cross-referencing papers and searching for patterns, AI algorithms might help discover new possible treatments or factors that make the virus worse for some patients.”


Forbes also reports 10 ways AI, Data science and technology are being used to manage and fight Covid-19. Some of the applications include

Processing healthcare claims efficiently. RPA and AI have been used in the insurance industry for years. With a huge rise in claims, and the need to process things efficiently and effectively while staff may be remote working, this technology will play a huge role in navigating and supporting claims.

Finding a cure. AI is helping scientists understand the proteins that make up the virus and propose drugs to fight it. Technology has given us insight into the make up of viruses that we would never have had years ago. 

Chatbots to share information to the public looking for answers. As the public is hungry for answers in uncertain time, reliable sources of information may be overwhelmed by requests. Chatbots can play an important role in distributing reliable information from trusted sources and answering questions and directing them to the most appropriate resources

Have you seen any other applications of RPA and AI? Let us know. Email me at Sarah [@] sharedserviceslink.com

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