The Chinese technology giant Tencent has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) programme that can speed up the process of diagnosing Parkinson’s disease.
Developed in collaboration with the London-based medical firm Medopad, the AI uses cameras that monitor how patients move their hands in order to evaluate the severity of their symptoms.
The AI has been trained to identify symptoms by studying existing video footage of Parkinson’s patients, says Forbes. The process, often referred to as machine learning, was completed with the help of London’s King’s College Hospital.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The process of monitoring a patient’s symptoms normally takes about half an hour, but the tech developed through the partnership could cut that down to three minutes.
According to Wei Fan, Tencent’s head of medical research, the technology would allow medical professionals to set drug dosage levels and monitor patients without the need for hospital visits, Bloomberg reports.
In an interview with the BBC, Medopad’s chief executive Dan Vahdat said the company had been hoping to create an AI programme for smartphones that was capable of detecting Parkinson’s symptoms but couldn’t find a Britain-based firm that could match “what Tencent offered as a partner.”
“Our ambition is to impact a billion patients around the world – and to be able to get to that kind of scale we need to work with partners that have international reach”, he said.
Can these AI techniques be used for other diseases?
If the technology developed for Parkinson’s patients proves a reliable method for tracking symptoms it’s certainly a possibility.
The technology is still a prototype. But if the AI could be transferred onto a smartphone – an area that Medopad specialises in – it could be adapted for other diseases.
Fan and Vahdat told Bloomberg that the technology could be applied to childhood brain cancers, for example. It could also be used to monitor the progression of scoliosis (a spinal condition) in younger patients.
-
Deep thoughts: AI shows its math chopsFeature Google's Gemini is the first AI system to win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad
-
The jobs most at risk from AIThe Explainer Sales and customer services are touted as some of the key jobs that will be replaced by AI
-
Why AI means it's more important than ever to check terms and conditionsIn The Spotlight WeTransfer row over training AI models on user data shines spotlight on dangers of blindly clicking 'Accept'
-
Are AI lovers replacing humans?Talking Points A third of Gen Z singles use tech as a 'romantic companion'
-
Palantir: The all-seeing tech giantFeature Palantir's data-mining tools are used by spies and the military. Are they now being turned on Americans?
-
Grok brings to light wider AI antisemitismIn the Spotlight Google and OpenAI are among the other creators who have faced problems
-
Intellectual property: AI gains at creators' expenseFeature Two federal judges ruled that it is fair use for AI firms to use copyrighted media to train bots
-
Is AI killing the internet?Talking Point AI-powered browsers and search engines are threatening the death of the open web
