Why Didn't Artificial Intelligence Save Us From Covid-19?

In late January, more than a week before Covid-19 had been given that name, hospitals in Wuhan, China, began testing a new method to screen for the disease, using artificial intelligence. The plan involved chest CTs--three-dimensional scans of lungs displayed in finely detailed slices. By studying thousands of such images, an algorithm would learn to decipher whether a given patient's pneumonia appeared to stem from Covid-19 or something more routine, like influenza. In the US, as the virus spread in February, the idea appeared to hold promise: With conventional tests in short supply, here was a way to get more people screened, fast. Although various diagnostic algorithms have won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration--for wrist fractures, eye diseases, breast cancer--they generally spend months or years in development.