The Role Artificial Intelligence is Playing in the Fight Against COVID-19

As the economy begins the slow process of re-opening, advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing are playing a key role not only in monitoring COVID-19 outbreaks, but how companies manage the unchartered landscape before them. Use of AI during the earliest days of the pandemic centered on tracking the spread of the disease around the world. Today, AI is playing a critical role in how pharmaceutical and biotech companies research and test treatments, and in the development of a vaccine. And now, as states begin to reopen, and businesses try to find the best path forward, these advanced technologies are enabling them to figure out how to do this safely and effectively. "Companies don't have historical data to work from because they've never dealt with a crisis like this before," said Katie Stein, chief strategy officer for Genpact, a global professional services firm that specializes in digital transformation.