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Writer's pictureJimin Lee

Preparing for the Next Pandemic: How AI is Revolutionizing Epidemic Response

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COVID-19 has had an irreversible impact on the world. It had an impact in many ways, socially, medically, and even politically.   


Compared to the past bubonic plague, which caused nearly 20 million victims over 3 years, COVID-19 showed an improvement over the past with a death toll of about 7 million over 4 years. It can be seen that the development of modern medicine and technology has brought about these results. Among them, AI technology will likely play a big role, and it is argued that future pandemics will be prevented and resolved through AI.


According to one projection, there is a 25% chance that a pandemic on the scale of COVID-19 could occur within the next decade. To counter this, researchers from the University of California and the University of California are developing an AI-based early warning system designed to monitor, model, and curb the impact of potential pandemics.


The system employs AI to analyze social media platforms, particularly by monitoring behavioral trends and identifying early signals of potential outbreaks. By processing vast amounts of data, the system aims to forecast pandemic trajectories and provide timely interventions. Since 2015, the UCI and UCLA teams have been building this project on a database of over 2.3 billion posts from Twitter (now known as X), focusing on American user activity to refine their models.


However, some researchers have raised concerns over potential geographic and cultural biases, noting that the reliance on X as a primary data source may skew the AI's predictions. In several countries, access to X is restricted, which could limit the system's applicability on a global scale. Professor Chen, who leads the project, acknowledged this limitation, stating, “Data availability outside the U.S. is inconsistent, and we are actively exploring solutions to address this challenge.”


As this innovative system evolves, it underscores the crucial role AI could play in safeguarding humanity against future health crises, highlighting the need for comprehensive, inclusive data to ensure its effectiveness worldwide.


Perspectives from Businesses on the Impact of AI


In addition, an AI tool called ‘EVEScape’ developed jointly by Harvard Medical School and Oxford University is predicting variant coronaviruses. It announces variant rankings every two weeks, and through this, it has made accurate predictions for other viruses such as HIV and influenza.


“One of the strengths of our approach is that it can be used early in the pandemic,” said Niki Tadani, a researcher who helped develop Evescape.


The most important thing we must not overlook before using AI and developing technology is ‘trust.’ This is because information sharing and platform activation start with trust. To this end, companies and individuals will need to ask themselves questions once again. Is that really the case?


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