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The Bright Side of AI #2: NVIDIA's Drug Discovery, Sheba's AI Cardiology, and Winnow's Food Waste Revolution
In light of the recent advancements highlighted by the HUMAN Protocol in the first episode of "The Bright Side of AI", three new major breakthroughs have been announced in the field of AI, continuing to transform human life through the healthcare and hospitality sectors.
After making a splash in the worlds of video gaming and cryptocurrency mining, hardware giant, NVIDIA, is now stepping into the healthcare arena. The company recently committed a whopping $50 million investment in Recursion, a firm that specializes in drug discovery.
This hefty investment will empower Recursion to devise and implement innovative methodologies for drug identification and, more importantly, testing. By leveraging the power of AI, the newly formed partnership aims to speed up the drug development process while cutting down associated costs. This collaboration will allow Recursion to tap into its extensive biological and chemical datasets, which are expanding by hundreds of terabytes each week, to train its AI models on NVIDIA's cloud platform. These models can then be licensed through BioNeMo, NVIDIA's cloud service dedicated to generative AI in drug discovery.
Recursion is likely to use BioNeMo, NVIDIA's cloud platform service dedicated to generative AI in drug discovery. At present, Recursion is conducting human trials on five different drugs, with some anticipated to produce results in the coming year. One drug is showing potential for treating a specific neurovascular condition caused by malformed small blood vessels in the brain. We're eagerly waiting updates and hoping for successful results.
AI is undoubtedly making waves in the medical field. The Israeli start-up, Sheba Medical Center, has announced its use of AI to assist doctors in diagnosing heart conditions in a matter of minutes. Their solution, dubbed AISAP (get the reference?), is engineered for rapid problem identification and is distinguished by its intuitive interface. The ultrasound probe utilized for the examination is not only user-friendly but also highly portable, making it a handy tool for all doctors, not just those specializing in cardiology.
Physicians use AISAP to capture images of the patient's heart. The intelligent system instantly assesses the quality of these images and, if necessary, guides the clinician to optimize them. Despite using only two imaging angles, this swift procedure allows for a comprehensive analysis of eight essential cardiac functions. The images are then sent to the AISAP cloud platform for a more in-depth AI analysis. Here, they undergo a thorough AI examination, leveraging a vast database of images annotated and diagnosed by expert cardiologists. AISAP's AI then uses this data to generate a 3D image of the patient's heart, revealing unparalleled detail and aiding in the identification of potential issues.
Even though AISAP has only been deployed recently, the trials have been highly promising, as demonstrated by the participants in the study conducted at Sheba Medical Center on 1,000 people. In 50% of patients, significant findings led to changes in their medical management. Following this success, AISAP received approval from Israel's Ministry of Health and has been integrated into the Sheba Medical Center. They're in talks to roll it out to four other Israeli hospitals.
The push into the American market is expected to begin by 2024. Given the nearly 17.9 million deaths from cardiovascular disease worldwide each year, we're hoping this tech breakthrough will put a big dent in that tragic number.
Beyond its transformative effects on healthcare, AI is also making significant headway in the food industry, tackling the worldwide problem of food waste. As per the US Department of Agriculture, an estimated 30% to 40% of the food supply ends up as waste. Beyond the tragic reality of 25,000 people dying from hunger daily, food waste also has significant economic and environmental consequences, being a primary cause of water extraction and biodiversity loss.
Leading this revolution is Winnow, a London-based company. Winnow has developed an AI-powered system that uses machine learning and a camera to measure the amount of food discarded daily in commercial kitchens. A weighing device beneath the system measures the food waste. This data allows Winnow to determine the cost and profile of the discarded food, providing valuable insights to culinary teams and management to make informed decisions to reduce food waste.
One of Winnow's clients, the international hotel and resort group Iberostar, has incorporated this technology into its kitchens worldwide. The company discovered that food waste had a more significant environmental impact than all the electricity used on its properties. By utilizing Winnow's system, Iberostar can reduce its carbon footprint and contribute to ocean conservation.
Interestingly, even waste is becoming more "useful" since Winnow's launch, with the AI improving each time food is discarded thanks to the influx of new data.
Currently, over 2,000 kitchens are using Winnow, and every photo taken is fed into the company's computer vision model.
Winnow's goal is to prevent $1 billion in food waste annually by the end of the decade. So far, the company's technology has saved $175 million in food waste.
The recent advancements in the healthcare and hospitality industries showcase the positive potential of this technology. NVIDIA and Recursion are joining forces to expedite drug development, Israeli start-up Sheba Medical Center is employing AI to swiftly diagnose heart conditions, and Winnow is utilizing AI to tackle food waste. However, while AI is brimming with beneficial applications, it also harbors a Dark Side. As you anticipate the unveiling of this week's Dark Side of AI, don't forget to catch up on last week's revelations and stay connected with us on Twitter or join our Discord community.
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The HUMAN Protocol Foundation makes no representation, warranty, or undertaking, express or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or reasonableness of the information contained here. Any assumptions, opinions, and estimations expressed constitute the HUMAN Protocol Foundation’s judgment as of the time of publishing and are subject to change without notice. Any projection contained within the information presented here is based on a number of assumptions, and there can be no guarantee that any projected outcomes will be achieved.
