AI and humanity: Collaborating to solve global problems

Drama sells – and bad news makes great headlines. From chatbot hallucinations to AI bias and deepfakes, the potential risks of artificial intelligence often take center stage in the news. But the impact of AI technologies is more widespread – and often more positive.

“When it comes to AI, we should ask ourselves, what if we get it right?” It’s a question Vice President of SAS Data Ethics Practice Reggie Townsend likes to pose. As he says, “Organizations all over the world are already using AI to solve some of the most important humanitarian challenges, like infant mortality, poverty, abuse and fraud. This is what I call the side of AI where the light shines. And that’s where we should be very optimistic.”

Artificial intelligence paired with human ingenuity has the potential to change the world for the better. Technological advances allow society to experiment with innovative solutions to global issues that have affected humanity for centuries.

The pain of displaced communities, the global food crisis and natural disasters affect not just the quality of life of affected individuals, but also their ability to survive. With the expansion of violent extremist groups and civil unrest around the world, the need for safety and security is immeasurable.

These challenges have plagued humanity for centuries, but AI can provide a different lens to find solutions. Because AI can aggregate, analyze and process thousands of data points, it can help humans find unexpected patterns that shape innovative approaches. This can accelerate our ability to create positive, lasting effects.

AI to help detect – and prevent – destruction of the Amazon rainforest

The Amazon rainforest may conjure images of a vast green paradise; but the reality is that farming, ranching, fires and logging have led to disturbing levels of deforestation. Yet monitoring more than 2 million square miles of wilderness is extremely difficult for the human eye.

This is where AI technology comes in.

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) partnered with SAS to develop an AI system to solve this challenge with a collaborative socio-technical approach.. Together, they launched a global project asking volunteers to help train a novel AI platform that can monitor new areas autonomously.

Online volunteers from around the world evaluated more than 90,000 satellite images taken by the European Space Agency and recorded whether there was evidence of human-generated deforestation. Their volunteer work trained the model to monitor for signs of fire while liberating experts to evaluate harder-to-classify areas.

Applying AI to satellite data has potential applications beyond deforestation, too – in areas like migration, pollution, wildfires and food security.

Using data to break the cycle of poverty

Bissell Centre, an Alberta, Canada-based nonprofit, provides individuals and families with support to overcome poverty and forge new connections in their communities. Services range from mental health support to employment counseling to financial empowerment services and more. But each situation is unique, so creating a blueprint to break the cycle of poverty is challenging.

Bissell Centre partnered with SAS to evaluate each client’s needs and track their progress over time. Enhancing Bissell Centre’s data capabilities has helped them shift toward forecasting and allow for statistical modeling and predictive analytics – such as estimating a person’s likelihood to rise from poverty based on their social supports.

In a field where capturing complex life experiences is crucial, data can help tell a more tangible story. “It's critical that our data is reliable and the results of our analyses are trustworthy. People’s lives depend on it,” says Gary St. Amand, CEO of Bissell Centre. “With SAS, we can be confident that we are making well-informed decisions.”

Animal conservation across the world starts with a single AI-analyzed footprint

A hundred years ago, there were 100,000 cheetahs in the world. Today, there are just 7,100. A decline in one species can have ripple effects throughout the ecosystem, putting many others at risk.

The organization WildTrack specializes in noninvasive species monitoring through footprint tracking. Footprint tracking can reveal not only the species (for instance, cheetah versus leopard) but also the sex, age and movement of an individual animal. Although WildTrack often works with highly knowledgeable indigenous people to identify footprints, they also needed a larger, more automated solution.

WildTrack uses AI models to automate footprint interpretation. To date, the team has developed algorithms for more than 40 endangered species, from tiny mammals to black rhinos. Researchers and laypeople alike send snapshots of footprints from all over the world to WildTrack, which uses AI to answer larger questions, like:

• Where are these animals migrating?
• How many are left?
• How is human development affecting those numbers?

Once questions like these are answered, new conservation strategies can be employed – and the potential of AI in terms of protecting our planet and our ecosystem is huge. “Our challenge is how to harness artificial intelligence to create an environment where there’s room for us, and all species in this world,” says WildTrack co-founder Sky Alibhai.

A safety net for hospital patients

Hospitals collect mountains of data during patients’ stays. But even though each patient’s data is stored in the hospital’s electronic medical record, the data isn’t integrated in a way that facilitates the understanding of a patient’s condition and how it’s changing over time. It isn’t easy to answer the simple question, “Is this patient getting better or worse?”

To capture risk in a new way, Michael Rothman, an Advisory Data Scientist at Spacelabs Healthcare, and his brother Steven developed The Rothman Index^®.

“With the Rothman Index, we’ve created a real-time data visualization to make it clear when a patient is deteriorating,” explains Michael Rothman. “And we’re able to identify deterioration before it becomes a crisis.” The patient acuity score is presented in an easily understood color-coded graph that updates in real-time and clearly shows any upward or downward trends.

The Rothmans’ journey into health care began with a personal loss: their mother’s slow, undetected decline after what seemed like a successful surgery. Determined to prevent similar tragedies, Michael and Steven, both from non-medical backgrounds, used their expertise in advanced analytics to design the Rothman Index.

The Rothmans discovered that while physician researchers focused on interpreting vital signs and lab tests, another important source of data was typically ignored – the head-to-toe assessments that nurses conduct regularly. These evaluations capture the subtle changes in a patient’s condition, such as confusion, appetite loss or swelling, that may precede a crisis.

“Our goal is to let the doctor or nurse know that something is going wrong before the patient is in crisis,” Rothman says. “If you can get there before a crisis, you can change an outcome. SAS has been critical for studying Rothman Index’s impact on patient outcomes,” Rothman adds. “It has allowed us to test hypotheses quickly, which helped accelerate our research.”

In 2023, Spacelabs took a bold step in advancing predictive health care by acquiring PeraHealth, the company co-founded by Michael and Steven Rothman. The partnership was a natural fit.

Spacelabs’ journey into real-time remote health monitoring began during the early years of space exploration – supporting NASA’s historic Gemini and Apollo missions. Today, Spacelabs brings that same innovation to earth-bound health care, enabling clinicians to remotely monitor patient conditions whenever and wherever they need it.

As Rothman and Spacelabs look to the future, they envision adapting the Rothman Index for use beyond the hospital. For example, they envision integrating it with remote patient monitoring systems, with the potential for personalized alerts based on individual health patterns and pre-existing conditions.

The ethical use of AI remains a top priority

In each of these examples, the same concerns that surround AI in the business market are relevant. Is the data being collected and used in an ethical manner? Is there transparency and interpretability built into how decisions are made? Is there due diligence in managing bias?

AI is not the single answer to solve all the world’s problems, but it can be a catalyst for new approaches to critical challenges. In a moment of crisis, look for the “helpers.” And don’t overlook those who are creating powerful technology to help people in need and make a difference in this world.

Contrary to what some people think, there is no magic in AI. But it just might be one of the magic wands that humanity needs.