Let me smell your breath, I’ll tell you what you’re suffering … artificial intelligences (AI) were able to see (as with self-driving cars) or even hear. Now they can smell and draw an analysis. Researchers at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom have imagined an AI capable of detecting, from the analysis of droplets of human respiration, the beginnings of a possible pathology. The technology they developed was designed to analyze chemical compounds in the air, explains The Conversation. Within these machines, brain-inspired mathematical models called “deep learning networks” were specifically designed to “read” breath trails, the site reports. The device was tested on breath samples from participants treated for cancer. Deep learning networks analyzed the data contained in these samples until they recognized specific patterns bringing out specific compounds in respiration. In the case of the experiment, the machine succeeded in recognizing specific markers of cancer.
Applications in medicine to be defined
The breath sensor is able to recognize a group of chemicals, called aldehydes, often associated with scents, but also with stressful conditions and human illness. Where human hand expertise takes hours, AI only takes a few minutes to analyze independently a breath sample. The potential applications of this technology are immense, according to Andrea Soltoggio, a researcher at Loughborough University and author of the study. The detection of small amounts of volatile compounds could be used in medicine but also in environmental analysis. For medicine, the system could diagnose disease markers. “It has great potential, but it could also be controversial,” observes the scientist in The Conversation. “We’re just suggesting that AI could be used as a tool to detect substances in the air. It doesn’t necessarily have to diagnose. or make a decision “.
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