It seems like every week there are exciting new developments with artificial intelligence being used in the health, medicine and science fields; and that’s because, well, there is.
There is often quite a negative attitude amongst the public in relation to AI, “they’re going to take our jobs!”, “it’s the end of the human race!” But it’s not all doom and gloom. Really good, positive, and not to mention lifesaving advances in medicine, are taking place all with AI and proving that our new robot overlords are not planning on taking over the world just quite yet…
We’re looking at exciting developments for Epilepsy patients with, you guessed it, the help of AI. Amazon has added 22 new languages to Amazon Translate and has Microsoft given children the ability to speak to reindeer? Read on to find out.
1. Digital Health Trial Uses AI For Better Epilepsy Treatment Decisions
Clinical trials are underway in the US to better help specialists and patients when it comes to determining which drug scenario would be best for those who suffer from Epilepsy. Currently, there are over “14,000 different treatment scenarios” in which patients and doctors have in order to decide which medication would work best for each individual patient. As imagined, it’s a lot of trial and error at the beginning of diagnosis.
What the researchers at Stanford and doc.ai are aiming to do, is use AI to streamline the process so that it is more scientific and based on real life exposures. The medication needed to treat Epilepsy can depend on their lifestyle, age and their local environment. “The predictive capabilities of AI to figure out the most effective choices given the complexity of the disease and relatively high number of treatments.”
2. New York City Creates Chief Algorithms Officer Position
Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio has created the position of Algorithms Management and Policy Officer, “a senior-level position to manage the city’s use of algorithms.”
After a report, from the Automated Decision Systems Task Force was released, detailing that there was a need to eliminate “implicit or explicit biases,” as well as other risks, that might be coded into tools used by the city to deliver services on a daily basis.", Mayor de Blasio created the position through executive order.
It’s a step in the right direction and one that more cities and companies should follow as new technologies are used to assist in the running of said cities and companies.
3. A.I. camera system launches in Australia to catch drivers on phones
We’re almost all guilty of it, and we know it shouldn’t be done, but sometimes it’s tricky to stay off your phone when you’re driving. Well, if you’re in NSW, you’re about to become a lot more aware and mindful when you’re doing it. In a world-first that commenced December 1 2019, the NSW Centre for Road Safety are using AI mobile phone detection cameras to spot drivers who are illegally (read: not using their phones handsfree) when driving. The system uses artificial intelligence to automatically review images and detect offending drivers, and to exclude images of non-offending drivers from further action. Images that the automated system considers likely to contain a driver illegally using a mobile phone are verified by authorised personnel.
For the first three months drivers will receive a warning letter. Once the three month period is up, drivers will receive five demerit points and fines of $344 or $457 if in a school zone.
In what is already a notoriously dangerous time of year on the roads, play it safe and stay off your phone when driving regardless of which state you’re in please.
4. AWS extends Amazon Translate to 2,804 language pairs, 6 more cloud regions
Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), have added a further 22 new languages to its Amazon Translate service. The technology, which uses machine learning to automatically translate and convert text between languages can now translate Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Dari, Estonian, Canadian French, Georgian, Hausa, Latvian, Pashto, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Swahili, Tagalog and Tamil. “Amazon Translate’s AI algorithms are now versed in a total of 54 languages and dialects. In practice, that means the service can provide automated translations across some 2,804 language pairs, more than 20 times the number it supported a year ago.”
The company appears to be putting a lot of time, money and effort into advancing its natural language processing technologies. For those interested, they have a blog detailing the work being put into machine learning by its researchers.
5. Microsoft’s holiday ad shows off translation technology for dozens of languages (and reindeer)
<img src=“https://storage.googleapis.com/site-assets-prod/blog_assets/the-weekly-roundup-10-dec-2019/the-weekly-roundup-10-dec-2019-reindeer.jpg” alt=“Microsoft’s holiday spot, “Holiday Magic: Lucy & The Reindeer” McCann”=“Microsoft’s holiday spot, “Holiday Magic: Lucy & The Reindeer” McCann”>
We couldn’t resist featuring this in our roundup, it is the most wonderful time of the year, after all.
Microsoft has cleverly released a new ad that promotes it’s voice translation service, while appealing to kids of all ages (including this 33 year old author) with it’s lovely story of Christmas magic and technology.
After seeing her mother having an online meeting with Japanese colleagues and being told by her father that “they’re speaking to your mum in Japanese and she’s hearing them English”, Lucy later sees reindeer outside of her house. Rushing out with the Microsoft tablet she converses with the reindeer, asking all the important questions such as, “How do you guys fly?”, and “what does Santa do in the summer?”
And while, as the ad states, Reindeer isn’t a language that can be translated in real time…yet, it’s a fantastic way to advertise the technology’s capabilities.
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