How artificial intelligence can help us eat better

Do you have that friend you go out with to indulge on all the scrumptious (and unhealthy) delicacies L.A. has to offer? Or how about that other friend who eats organic and always makes you feel like an unhealthy chicken nugget? Chances are you have both--and you're also probably one of them. Peers can wield a lot of influence when it comes to our lifestyle choices: According to the American Psychological Association, people who enrolled in weight loss programs with friends did a better job at keeping their weight off than those who did it alone. Bryan Wilder, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and Kayla de la Haye, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, believe there's an opportunity to optimize our peer influences to live a healthier life using artificial intelligence.