Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already being used by healthcare professionals to help beat cancer and is now becoming a vital weapon in the battle against COVID-19, says GlobalData a leading data and analytics company.

AI is not only helping to forecast where an outbreak of the decease is likely to occur, but is also being deployed in drones delivering medical supplies, helping to monitor lockdown compliance, and by using algorithms AI is helping to find the best candidates for a vaccine against the decease.

Shabnam Pervez, Technology Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Within the next five years, GlobalData Thematic Research believes that the deployment of AI technologies will be essential to the survival of companies of all shapes and sizes across all sectors, becoming a pathway to maximum profitability.”

In the shorter term, AI is proving particularly beneficial to the healthcare sector fighting COVID-19 due to its use in imaging, drug discovery, clinical trials and diagnostics to curb the outbreak.

Pervez adds: “Following the first reports of an outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, technology companies have been scrambling to use AI to help get on top of the disease.”

China’s Alibaba has offered Europe’s healthcare systems a chest-scanning tool that harnesses AI to help identify signs of COVID-19, with claims of 96% accuracy. Canadian start-up BlueDot’s outbreak tracking software issued a warning of the risk of COVID-19’s spread before the announcement of a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

Pervez continues: “Many smaller companies are also developing their initiatives. Silicon-Valley based Eko, a digital healthcare start-up, has developed an AI-driven COVID-19 screening tool in the form of a digital stethoscope that offers real-time visualization and sharing of lung sounds.”