Researchers have developed a computer method using AI techniques that could lead to a deeper understanding of, and treatment for, Crohn's disease, a chronic gastrointestinal inflammation that affects up to 780,000 people in the US alone. The team from Rutgers University, which published the results of the study in the journal Genome Medicine, used artificial intelligence to examine genetic signatures of Crohn's in 111 people, including 64 people with a Crohn's disease diagnosis. Researchers then used an artificial intelligence method, known as AVA,Dx (Analysis of Variation for Association with Disease), to identify genes whose functions changed more in Crohn's patients than in healthy people. The researchers were able to highlight known Crohn's disease genes, as well as new potential Crohn's genes. AVA,Dx also identified 16 percent of Crohn's patients at 99 percent precision, and 58 percent of the patients with 82 percent precision in over 3,000 individuals from separately sequenced panels.

Potholes are a nuisance pretty much everywhere and the methods traditionally used to keep track of them aren't terribly efficient. Whether it be driving around to visually inspect roads or watching videos of streets to spot and prioritize the repair of pavement damage, strategies typically used by towns and cities require a fair amount of time and labor. But AI could make that process a bit easier and quite a bit faster. One group exploring the use of AI to support the municipal officials in charge of road maintenance has been developing a software system that could not only aid in road repairs but also bridge and building maintenance as well. The group, led by John Zelek at the University of Waterloo, has been using road images sourced from Google Street View to develop its system, which automatically analyzes photos of roads to spot potholes, cracks and other damage.

There's no definitive way to tell if an initial coin offering (ICO) is a scam, but a machine learning-based research method could make it easier to avoid the most obvious ones. A Chinese startup called Shannon.AI, working with researchers from Stanford, University of California Santa Barbara, and the University of Michigan, recently unveiled a white paper detailing an AI designed to sniff out cryptocurrency scams. When it comes to cryptocurrency investing there's only one sure-fire way to avoid getting scammed: don't do it. Sure, the Bitcoin bros and millennial millionaires make it look like we can all drive our lambos to the moon if we invest, but the reality is the majority of ICOs last year were either scams or failed. Despite the fact that ICOs are able to provide fair and lawful investment opportunities, the ease of crowdfunding creates opportunities and incentives for unscrupulous businesses to use ICOs to execute "pump and dump" schemes, in which the ICO initiators drive up the value of the crowdfunded cryptocurrency and then quickly "dump" the coins for a profit.