AI App Identifying Travelers Who Contracted With Coronavirus Has 21 Mil Users

Harin - Jan 31, 2020

Based on data like departure date, train ticket or plane ticket, a user can check if they had been on the same trip with someone infected with Coronavirus.

According to SCMP, this app is a joint development between Qihoo 360 and NoSugar Tech to collect each traveler’s journey data. The app also alerts if someone has come back from Wuhan.

Accordingly, based on data like departure date, train ticket or plane ticket, a user can check if they had been on the same journey with someone who has been infected with Coronavirus. At the same time, the app also warns those who accidentally came into contact with infected people and have had symptoms like high fever to quarantine themselves and seek help from medical agencies.

NoSugar Tech has synthesized and verified data from public sources such as CCTV Television, People's Daily to put into the application's database. After that, Qihoo 360 will use its AI and big data to analyze and ensure that the information is constantly updated.

Notably, the app now has over 21 million users on both Qihoo 350 web platform and its app, only after 2 days of launching.

Since Coronavirus is spreading like wildfire across China, an app like this is really needed. At the moment, there are 9.600 confirmed cases with 213 deaths.

Not only Qihoo 360, but other tech companies in China are also using AI to support the fight against Coronavirus.

AISpeech recently announced that it would provide its chatbot AI system on Wechat to the government, health organizations and charities in China. By making calls automatically and recording when there is a reply, this chatbot will help authorities to reach out to people and know their travel itinerary. Moreover, this system can also offer citizens useful information about the outbreak of the deadly virus.

Meanwhile, top tech companies like Alibaba and Baidu have also provided scientists their cloud computing technology for free, hoping that it would speed up the process of developing a vaccine. Baidu also announced that its AI could analyze the coronavirus genome in just 27 seconds and would offer it for free for any research organization.