A sepsis-catching AI has proven effective in hospitals

An AI designed to catch potentially fatal sepsis before it is too late has proven effective in a large real-world study. The algorithm, called the Targeted Real-time Early Warning System (TREWS), accurately flagged thousands of cases of sepsis -- a devastating overreaction to an infection -- before they had been identified by hospital staff. "Sepsis spirals extremely fast--like in a matter of hours if you don't get timely treatment," TREWS developer Suchi Saria, the founder and CEO of medical AI company Bayesian Health, told Scientific American's Sophie Bushwick. "I lost my nephew to sepsis. And in his case, for instance, sepsis wasn't suspected or detected until he was already in late stages of what's called septic shock," Saria said.