Screening for dementia with artificial intelligence

With the support of a new grant worth $3.9 million, Michigan State University researchers are developing technology that scans speech and vocabulary patterns to catch early signs of Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia. Jiayu Zhou, an associate professor in MSU's College of Engineering, is leading the effort that's powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, and funded by the National Institutes of Health. In collaboration with Oregon Health & Science University and Weill Cornell Medicine, the goal is to code an easy-to-use smart phone app to help assess whether a follow-up medical diagnosis is needed. "Alzheimer's is tough to deal with and it's very easy to confuse its early stage, mild cognitive impairment, with normal cognitive decline as we're getting older," said Zhou, who leads a research group in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. "It's only when it gets worse that we realize what's going on and, by that time, it's too late."