Hey Siri, How Do I Feel?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing a bigger role in patient care, in mental health diagnoses, and in analyzing big data to deliver more targeted treatments. And now, with tech that could pick up on patterns in our speech, eye movements and facial expressions, could machines be the future in global health? If you've ever asked Siri a question, been motivated to run by a nagging watch, or suddenly realised you were flirting with a charming chatbot, you know our daily interactions, our access to information, our choices, are increasingly mediated by machines. And, if you're anything like me, (Co-Director of Common Thread, global health communications), it feels less like: "the Robots are coming!!!" and more like, "damn, when did they get here, and who invited them?" Algorithms, pattern recognition, neural networks and deep learning -- all part of the broader family of machine learning and artificial intelligence -- will only continue to expand their influence on our lives.