Artificial intelligence has played a crucial role in containing COVID-19. AI techniques were used to track cases, making predictions, and also in administering vaccines.
It’s fair to assume that the clickbaity media have dramatized the role of AI in fighting the pandemic, even at the expense of downplaying human contributions.
The US National Institute of Health (NIH) published a paper in 2020 about how AI has fallen short in pandemic predictions.
The poor performance of the AI models can be chalked up to a variety of factors.
I’m certain that lack of reliable data is one of the top factors influencing the predictions.
At first, the data wasn't sufficient to build AI models to track and map its spread. The experts relied heavily on a small sample, mostly from China - most of which was not peer-reviewed.
The pandemic data has been analyzed using models like Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Removed (SEIR).
The classic forecast models couldn't account for a pandemic of COVID's complexity and scale. Such models are prone to errors and risk compounding with large data.
Another indirect consequence of AI implementation is surveillance. In China, for instance, the government uses AI technology to control access to public spaces. In India, there have been privacy concerns raised about Indian apps.
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