Why AI Failed to Live Up to Its Potential During the Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic was the perfect moment for AI to, literally, save the world. There was an unprecedented convergence of the need for fast, evidence-based decisions and large-scale problem solving with datasets spilling out of every country in the world. For health care systems facing a brand new, rapidly spreading disease, AI was -- in theory -- the ideal tool. AI could be deployed to make predictions, enhance efficiencies, and free up staff through automation; it could help rapidly process vast amounts of information and make lifesaving decisions. Or, that was the idea at least.