$5.1 mil for research into AI to improve health outcomes

NEWS

Three international research projects led by Aotearoa New Zealand research teams have been awarded $5.1 million to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) could provide improved access to healthcare.

The projects will use AI company Soul Machines’ autonomously animated Digital People to explore how this technology could advance the development of New Zealand’s digital health research ecosystem and provide more personalised care.

“The world is being shaped by technological advancements, including in artificial intelligence, which are set to revolutionise healthcare,” says Loveday Kempthorne, manager international science policy, MBIE.

Two projects will be led through the University of Auckland, with one looking into developing a digital person to provide customised mental health support, and the other looking to support patients with chronic metabolic disease that struggle to understand their condition and how to manage it.

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A third project will be led by the University of Canterbury and is looking to create two-way interactive solutions to aid emotional recognition for those with autism spectrum disorder by combining Soul Machines digital technology with therapeutic approaches.

The projects are being funded through the Catalyst Fund and the teams will work with researchers from around the world, including the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Europe.

Soul Machines creates life-like Digital People using their Human OS Platform and Digital Brain technology. Soul Machines’ platform aims to enable researchers and international organisations to leverage the full capabilities of human and machine collaboration.

“To advance healthcare we need to democratize access and create empathetic, personalised experiences across cultures, languages, and geographic regions that are available 24/7,” says Greg Cross, chief executive of Soul Machines.

“By making our technology available we can help accelerate research in this field that solves massive worldwide problems. Over a dozen research institutes globally are already ideating on our tech.”

The three projects are:

• Tōku Hoa: A Personalized Agent for Mental Health, led by University of Auckland in partnership with University of Florida, University of Southern California (US), University of Augsburg (Germany), KAIST (Republic of Korea). This project looks to develop a digital person which will provide ready access to mental health support, customised based on individual needs.
• Digital Twins for the management of chronic metabolic disease, led by University of Auckland in partnership with the University of Liege (Belgium), Linkoping University (Sweden), and Furtwangen University (Germany). This project looks to support patients that struggle to understand their condition and how they should manage it. Building on a complementary physiological modelling project called ‘12 Labours’ the team will look to make a ‘Digital Twin’ that is specific to the patient.
• AI-driven Two-Way, Feedback Controlled Emotional Recognition Training for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, is led by University of Canterbury, in partnership with Freiburg University, Furtwangen University (Germany), and Graz University of Technology (Austria). This research proposes a digital solution combining the hyper-realism of Soul Machines, computer vision based facial expression recognition technologies, and clinical therapeutic approaches to create a novel, two-way Digital Therapy Solution.
  

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