Artificial intelligence may help predict suicide

Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence tool that can predict whether someone will attempt suicide as far off as two years into the future with up to 80 per cent accuracy. The team then combed through the electronic health records, which were anonymous, and identified more than 3,200 people who had attempted suicide. Using machine learning to examine all of those details, the algorithms were able to'learn' which combination of factors in the records could most accurately predict future suicide attempts. "The machine learns the optimal combination of risk factors. What really matters is how this algorithm and these variables interact with one another as a whole," said Jessica Ribeiro of Florida State University.