Japan firms employ AI diagnosis systems for COVID-19 related pneumonia - The Mainichi

Companies in Japan are proceeding to employ technology that helps provide diagnoses for pneumonia caused by COVID-19 by using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze computed tomography (CT) images of patients' lungs. While the new technology is expected to lessen the burden on doctors, and its usage is a promising means to sustain the health care system, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, which handles data inside and outside China including credit information and urban management, is paving the way in the development of a new AI diagnosis system. "We were able to apply the existing technology owned by Alibaba to combat the novel coronavirus in just two days," said Chi Ying, head of the medical AI team at Alibaba DAMO Academy, in a recent online interview. The academy, which is responsible for research on cutting-edge technology in the Alibaba Group, has been pushing research on AI analysis of CT scans since 2017. "Ground glass opacity," or a pattern of gray shadows, is a characteristic finding that indicates pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, and this was put to practical use to distinguish whether patients had pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, or pneumonia stemming from other causes.