Alibaba Cloud offers AI platform to support coronavirus medical efforts ZDNet

Alibaba's cloud business unit is offering its artificial intelligence-powered technologies to provide data insights on the current coronavirus pandemic and speed up diagnosis. The Chinese tech giant is hoping a suite of applications jointly developed by its cloud experts, researchers from its subsidiary DAMO Academy, and engineers from its communications platform DingTalk will support medical professionals worldwide in combating the virus. Alibaba said the AI-powered applications were put together from insights and lessons learned during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus. Pointing to its research arm DAMO Academy, it said three applications would be made available as a free trial to medical professionals and researchers, which could be used to aid in disease control and diagnosis. From cancelled conferences to disrupted supply chains, not a corner of the global economy is immune to the spread of COVID-19.