The Collective and Augmented Intelligence Against COVID-19 (CAIAC) alliance
An alliance of researchers across the country has formed to tackle complex data in an effort to better combat COVID-19.
The Future Society and Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), with the support of UNESCO and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, announced the creation of the Collective and Augmented Intelligence Against COVID-19 (CAIAC) alliance. CAIAC will establish an advisory group which aims to welcome experts from international organizations, including UNESCO, UN Global Pulse and other UN entities.
CAIAC will structure the rapidly expanding collection of global health, social and economic data on the pandemic to enable the world’s decision-makers to confidently take action. “By turning data into knowledge, CAIAC will help those at the forefront of the fight against COVD-19, including multilateral institutions, policymakers, healthcare leaders, and the scientific community,” a release said.
Scarcity of data
Actionable COVID-19 data has been scarce because the virus is still novel, the CAIAC said. At the same time data is abundant, as it emerges quickly from many different sources with no trusted filter. Research institutions, think-tanks, and NGOs have hurried to add their analyses and models to the data being reported by countries. The result, however, is a mass of information and a shortage of insight.
“To respond to this pressing global challenge, CAIAC is bringing together multiple data sources and expertise from a diverse group of global initiatives and building a dynamic and state-of-the-art decision-support tool that is comprehensive, authoritative, up-to-date, and ethical,” the release said.
The initiative’s founding members are partnering closely with private sector companies, including C3.ai, stability.ai, Element AI, Axis, GLG, and Planet on the technology that combines human and artificial intelligence to power this decision-making platform. Covington & Burling LLP is providing legal guidance for the initiative. The platform will be available to multilateral organizations, governments and global entities. CAIAC will also collaborate with technical, scientific, and civil society partners around the world to collect data on COVID-19, identify critical domains where structured information on the pandemic is needed most.
CAIAC aims to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) focused on three initial use cases:
- Tracking and tracing of contagion chains via mobility data and artificial intelligence
- Identifying and addressing inaccurate information on COVID-19,
- Finding marginalized areas most affected by second and third order pandemic impacts to deploy the appropriate interventions needed.
“CAIAC will enable the global community to better identify best practices and coordinate in the fight against COVID-19 by providing cross-country and cross-sector insights on all aspects of the pandemic,” the release said. “The key to sustainable results is multi-stakeholder collaboration on a common, unified, transparent knowledge base that documents and disseminates best practices. CAIAC hopes to accelerate solutions that will help the world navigate the current pandemic, while also building a foundation of knowledge to address future global challenges.”
For more information, visit www.caiac19.org.