The world population is ageing, and on average we are living longer. A person aged 65 years in 2015-2020 on average will live up to 82 years. By 2045-2050, this figure is expected to reach 84 years, an additional 2 years. Digital tools and services can play critical roles in and enabling healthy and active ageing by promoting independence, enabling social participation and ensuring healthcare access. In 2017, the global technology market for older adults' care was worth $5.6 billion and it is estimated to reach $13.6 billion by 2022 - a huge market opportunity to create products and services to support the increased life expectancy and empower older adults.

The tech sphere is showering money recently. For the past two decades, artificial intelligence was encountering significant growth across many domains. But thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, the adoption was further accelerated. The sudden surge in disruptive technologies' usage has eventually opened the door for investments in artificial intelligence. Investors are also looking to back AI companies that will one day flourish like Apple, Google, Netflix, Amazon, etc. Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term that covers many topics including machine learning, data analytics, data science, natural language processing, etc.

Ada Health has secured $90m (£63m) in funding to enhance its health assessment technology. The investment will enable Ada to work towards becoming the world's leading personalised operating system for health, according to a statement from the digital health company. It will also be used to expand its offering in the United States. The Berlin-based digital health company received Series B investment from Leaps by Bayer, the investment arm of Bayer, as well as six other investors including Samsung. Ada Health provides an AI-based health assessment and care navigation platform to help patients better understand their symptoms and navigate the right care pathways at the right time.

When Ada Health was founded nine years ago, hardly anyone was talking about combining artificial intelligence and physician care -- outside of a handful of futurists. But the chatbot boom gave way to a powerful combination of AI-augmented health care which others, like Babylon Health in 2013 and KRY in 2015, also capitalized on. The journey Ada was about to take was not an obvious one, so I spoke to Dr. Claire Novorol, Ada's co-founder and chief medical officer, at the Slush conference last year to unpack their process and strategy. Co-founded with Daniel Nathrath and Dr. Martin Hirsch, the startup initially set out to be an assistant to doctors rather than something that would have a consumer interface. At the beginning, Novorol said they did not talk about what they were building as an AI so much as it was pure machine learning. Years later, Ada is a free app, and just like the average chatbot, it asks a series of questions and employs an algorithm to make an initial health assessment.

As pressures on healthcare systems intensify, an increasing number of consumers are turning to the use of symptom checkers in the search for fast answers – or guidance – to any concerns that they may have. But although these tools have become popular, questions around their accuracy, and not only, are plaguing the digital health space. Last week, at Slush, Ada Health cofounder and chief medical officer Claire Novorol spoke to Wired UK's Victoria Turk about the Berlin-headquartered company's approach to building trust in its AI-powered chatbot. "Absolutely key, first of all, is the quality of the product," Novorol told the audience. "So what we've always focused on from the very beginning, eight years ago now actually, is the quality of the core product, the foundation of everything that we do, and that's our knowledge base, our reasoning engine, and how it works, the clinical quality of that, accuracy, safety."

The first artificial intelligence-based (--AI--) symptom-assessment application to be made available in Swahili has been launched today, unlocking access to health information and advice for more than 100 million people seeking healthcare in East Africa.-- The app, developed by Ada Health, combines a world-class medical knowledge database with intelligent reasoning technology to help users understand what might be causing their symptoms, as well as providing localized guidance about what they should do next. In doing so, the app aims to empower patients to make informed decisions about their own health, while also complementing and supporting existing healthcare services, doctors and clinics.-- Globally, four billion people - more than half the world--s population - lack access to basic health services, with the disadvantages of this global health challenge often disproportionately experienced by people in low- and middle-income countries. East Africa is a region that is acutely affected by this issue. By offering an AI-powered symptom-assessment medical application in Swahili, a language spoken by over 100 million people across the likes of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and Somalia, Ada hopes to significantly improve access to quality health information and advice, particularly for young people and families.

As the Brett Kavanaugh hearings dominated the news cycle in September, Silicon Valley–based mental health startup Ginger found its app buzzing with sexual assault survivors who were reporting feelings of heightened anxiety, anger and powerlessness. It scanned the words users typed to their therapists in a bid to better understand the patient's situation and then recommended how the health professionals might intervene. The therapists were then able to provide coping strategies based on an individual's needs. For Ginger co-founder Karan Singh, the reason for developing the app was personal. After learning of a friend's suicide attempt, Singh decided to help develop better resources for people suffering from depression.

London and Berlin-based, AI-powered health app maker Ada Health has raised $47 million (40 million euro) in a funding round led by global investment group Access Industries. June Fund, Cumberland VC, and entrepreneur William Tunstall-Pedoe also contributed along with existing investors. Ada Health officially launched its app back in April after a soft launch in late 2016 and six years of research and development. It asks relevant, personalized questions and suggests possible causes for users' symptoms. The company says more than 1.5 million people have used the app since March.

After six years in incubator development, KBS Albion and start-up Ada Health have released a artificial intelligence (AI) engine and app to provide health assessments in response to real-time patient symptom data. Berlin-based health tech startup Ada Health approached London-based KBS Albion to help develop this app. "Almost all our work is analogous to the work we did for Ada, blending business innovation with brand and product design," says Adam Lawrenson, ECD, KBS Albion. KBS and Ada had to conduct a "huge amount" of upfront research to understand consumer responses to digital health globally. "To do this, we had to design a specific methodology," with help from University College London, says Lawrenson. "We then had to create a name, brand and identity that would resonate globally.

When I first told to one of my girlfriends that our chatbot would do period tracking, her smile disappeared from her face. She asked why would anybody still do period tracking anywhere in the era of so many other applications that focus on women and their reproductive health. Well, I think the market is still underserved and there are still many opportunities, and one leads to creating a mix of a friend and a virtual gynaecologist using AI. Let's face it: we are absolutely not living in an equal world. As much as we fought to have this freedom and rights, we still have a lot to do.