we emerge from the pandemic and adjust to the ‘ new normal ’, AI Magazine reflects on how AI-enabled technology supported the fight against coronavirus

Early detection BlueDot used AI and its ability to continuously review data sets , such as news , airline ticket sales , demographics , climate data and animal populations . On 31 December 2019 , BlueDot detected what was then considered an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan , China and identified the cities most likely to experience this outbreak .

High hopes for AI Just before the World Health Organisation ( WHO ) declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic , the press and the scientific community echoed the high hopes that data science and AI could be used to confront coronavirus and " fill in the blanks " still left by science .

Supporting efforts in China Known for its advances in the AI field , China were well equipped to utilise AI as it helped fight the pandemic . AI was used to speed up genome sequencing , make faster diagnoses , carry out scanner analyses or , more occasionally , handle maintenance and delivery robots .

14 August 2022