AI and machine learning: Building use cases and creating real-life benefits Posted on : Oct 29 - 2018

Getting executives to talk about the potential of much-hyped artificial intelligence (AI) is one thing; getting them to explain how it might work in their business is often another issue altogether.

But Julie Dodd, director of digital transformation and communication at Parkinson's UK, is not only able to talk about how AI might change the game in terms of research and service delivery, she's also able to point to uses cases in her own organisation where emerging technology is already producing life-changing benefits.

Dodd points first to the charity's partnership with BenevolentAI, a specialist in the development and application of artificial intelligence. Parkinson's UK is using their machine-learning platform to search for drugs that might offer a potential cure to the condition. The charity won the partnership in a competition through the Association of Medical Charities.

Applicants were asked to submit proposals that demonstrated how BenevolentAI's technology could solve specific research challenges. Parkinson's UK, together, with The Cure Parkinson's Trust, is using BenevolentAI's capabilities to discover new treatments. Ambitious targets include identifying at least three currently available medicines that can be repurposed to address Parkinson's and two brand-new ways to treat the disease.

The BenevolentAI platform trawls through clinical research data and published studies. It looks at millions of data points and looks for things that humans might not be able to spot, such as potentially positive indicators in otherwise unsuccessful trials. The AI platform comes up with suggested drugs, molecules and pathways that could be beneficial in the future.

"The kind of thing that takes research scientists years, it can do in weeks," says Dodd. "Once we start seeing potential drugs that can be passed through to clinical trials faster than we would have been able to under traditional methods, then that's when digital transformation is going to start making a very real difference to people with Parkinson's."

Dodd also points to data-led transformation efforts around the charity's advice services. The aim is to use information to help direct the organisation's resources more effectively. She estimates Parkinson's UK can double the amount of people it reaches with its current staffing resources with the help of technology.

Developments have already taken place around user-facing services, and machine learning plays a part here. The charity is developing a product in partnership with other charities that uses machine learning to understand the experiences of individuals with Parkinson's. The tool, which is still at the prototyping stage, analyses the individual, looks at people with similar experiences, and recommends the right advice and support. View More