# Has AI / Analytics found insights into COVID-19 ? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-ai-analytics-found-insights-into-covid-19/851693 "2020-04-13T13:55:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-ai-analytics-found-insights-into-covid-19/851693/1 "2020-04-13T13:55:33Z")
So before the Epidemic, it was widely talked about how AI and Data Analytics was revolutionizing the world and finding deep insights which were previously not possible. Since there is so much data from around the world, Has AI found any insights not found by traditional methods ? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-ai-analytics-found-insights-into-covid-19/851693/2 "2020-04-13T14:49:58Z")
Saw an article that AI found a bunch of chemicals, around 70, that might work as a treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-ai-analytics-found-insights-into-covid-19/851693/3 "2020-04-13T23:25:24Z")
A treatment with those chemicals discovered by AI could do strange surreal things to you. ([Photo.](https://www.tensorflow.org/tutorials/generative/images/dogception.png)) That’s why we need that 12-18 month testing cycle! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-ai-analytics-found-insights-into-covid-19/851693/4 "2020-04-13T23:41:30Z")
If you google ‘AI coronavirus’ there are quite a few articles about AI predicting the outbreak before the WHO did, AI being used to model the surface of the virus, AI to help make vaccines, AI to help determine which drugs may work, AI to track who may have the virus in public places, AI to track its spread, etc > **[Five Companies Using AI to Fight Coronavirus](https://spectrum.ieee.org/companies-ai-coronavirus)** > > Deep learning models predict old and new drugs that might successfully treat COVID-19 > **[How this Canadian start-up spotted coronavirus before everyone else knew...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/bluedot-used-artificial-intelligence-to-predict-coronavirus-spread.html)** > > Thanks to artificial intelligence, the start-up BlueDot was able to predict the initial spread of coronavirus quicker than public health authorities. The technology, which incorporates natural language processing and machine learning, has been used... > **[The Role of AI in the Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine](https://www.informationweek.com/ai-or-machine-learning/the-role-of-ai-in-the-race-for-a-coronavirus-vaccine)** > > AI can spot patterns in data and make predictions, and the hope is these tools could identify drug prospects to test on humans within months. > **[AI and cloud computing used to develop COVID-19 vaccine](https://www.drugtargetreview.com/news/59650/ai-and-cloud-computing-used-to-develop-covid-19-vaccine/)** > > A potential COVID-19 vaccine has been developed by researchers using AI and cloud computing to prevent the Spike protein from binding to the ACE2 receptor. [https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/computational-chemistry/Artificial-intelligence-finds-drug-that-could-fight-Wuhan-coronavirus/98/i6](https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/computational-chemistry/Artificial-intelligence-finds-drug-that-could-fight-Wuhan-coronavirus/98/i6) > **[New AI-Based Fever Detection Cameras for Crowds Help Limit Coronavirus Spread](https://hitconsultant.net/2020/04/06/new-ai-based-fever-detection-cameras-for-crowds-help-limit-coronavirus-spread/)** > > Kogniz Health launches AI-camera solution which can scan groups and crowds and detect who may have a coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms for isolation. > **[AI system listens to coughs to learn where coronavirus is spreading](https://thenextweb.com/news/this-ai-system-listens-to-coughs-to-learn-where-the-coronavirus-is-spreading)** > > A new AI-powered surveillance system called FluSense monitors coughing sounds to understand where the coronavirus is spreading > **[How AI Tracks the Coronavirus Spread](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2020-03-11/how-scientists-are-using-artificial-intelligence-to-track-the-coronavirus)** > > Varying data metrics from countries pose a significant challenge to create tools to track the virus. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-ai-analytics-found-insights-into-covid-19/851693/5 "2020-04-14T02:32:30Z")
They found the match by deciding that the spike shape matched to ACE2. They then found the 70 treatments possible by searching for anything known to interfere with ACE2 , even if it is at first glance going to make symptoms worse, it could paradoxically be a treatment. (paradoxical in the same way that taking 10 litres of water from a dam can keep the dam full. sounds paradoxical ? surely the only way to keep a dam full is to add water to it ? If I drown you in the water, then you are not drinking, cooking, showering, watering, cleaning with that water…thus saving water… keeping the dam full.) camostat was one of the molecules found. but it may do its thing inside the cells with active ACE2 receptors that are inside the pancrease… eg only to correct the function of the pancrease cells. They search for matches and near matches of the RNA structure too. So for example, they found this covid19’s SARS2 virus has a stretch of 38 proteins that match the same stretch in a fish found in China.