Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to provide advance notice of an impending pandemic

We have seen firsthand how devastating these epidemics can be, and it could have been even worse, thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Scientists have now developed an artificial intelligence programme that claims to notify us in the future when dangerous strains of pandemic diseases arise. The method, known as the early warning anomaly detection (EWAD) system, proved to be accurate in forecasting the new variations of concern (VOCs) that would arise as the virus changed when tested against real data from the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. EWAD was created by US researchers from Northwestern University and Scripps Research using a machine learning technique. Large volumes of training data are analysed by computers in machine learning in order to identify patterns, create algorithms, and then forecast how those patterns could behave in hypothetical future situations. In this instance, data on the genetic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 variations, their frequency, and the estimated worldwide mortality rate from COVID-19 were provided to the AI during the infection's progression. Next, when the virus adapted, the software could identify genetic changes, which were typically manifested as rising infection rates and declining fatality rates. The team's particular method, known as Gaussian process-based spatial covariance, basically uses the correlations between the data points as well as the averages of the data points to crunch the numbers on a collection of current data in order to forecast new data.

The scientists could demonstrate the efficacy of EWAD in forecasting how interventions like vaccinations and mask wear could contribute to a virus's ongoing evolution by testing their model on actual data and discovering strong correlations between the observed and anticipated data.

The researchers claim that by using AI algorithms, they were able to identify "rules" of virus evolution that would have gone unnoticed and that may be crucial in containing pandemics in the future when they arise.