Google is working on AI that can hear signs of sickness

Given everything you’ve already heard about AI, you may not be surprised to learn that Google is among other outfits beginning to use sound signals to predict early signs of disease. 

How? According to Bloomberg, Google has trained its foundation AI model with 300 million pieces of audio that included coughs, sniffles, and labored breathing, to identify, for example, someone battling tuberculosis. 

Now, it has teamed up with an Indian company – Salcit Technologies, a respiratory healthcare AI startup — to tuck that tech into smartphones where it can potentially help high-risk populations in geographies with poor access to healthcare.

It’s not Google’s first foray into trying to digitize human senses. Its venture arm has also backed at least one startup that’s using AI in an attempt to sniff out disease, literally.