© Pexels/Tara Winstead
When are you going to die ? This is an existential question that can animate many people. Some would like to know the date and reasons for their death, others would prefer to remain in complete ignorance.
For several years, Danish and American researchers have been interested in this question. In reality, they focus above all on the lives of individuals, their social problems, their health concerns and, also, their risks of premature death.
Thus, Life2vec is an artificial intelligence model that draws on a lot of personal data, such as age, health, education, employment, income and many other events that make up an individual's life. In Denmark, such data is regularly collected and can be used, provided it is anonymous. Thus, between 2008 and 2020, researchers looked at 6 million Danes aged between 36 and 64. The question was simple: how many of them will live at least 4 years after January 1, 2020? In 78.8% of cases, artificial intelligence had correctly predicts the future of these individuals.
Too predictable?
Sune Lehmann is one of the authors of this study published in Nature Computational Science. Professor of network and complexity sciences at the Technical University of Denmark, he says that humans are, in reality, much more predictable than they want to admit. So each person could be reduced to a sequence of events that occur in their life. Which is enough to predict the future. Far from only predicting death, Life2vec can also announce important life decisions, such as moving abroad.
Of course, people whose data were analyzed by Life2vec were not made aware of the artificial intelligence predictions. That would have been irresponsible.
Unsurprisingly, Life2vec confirms that people with a high salary or in a management position are likely to live longer. On the other hand, certain characteristics, such as being a man, having mental health problems or working in a “skilled” profession, could be associated with premature death.
More than simply predicting the death of individuals, Life2vec would allow us to better understand the factors that could help individuals live longer. Of course, the ethics of such artificial intelligence are at the heart of the debates. But the researchers reassure: the model should not be made public, especially not for insurance companies. Despite everything, the precision of Life2vec can scare more than one person. Especially since this suggests that humans, who have always been judged as unique and special, would not be so “extraordinary”…
- Researchers have developed artificial intelligence capable of predicting the future and death
- Life2vec shows 78.8% accuracy
- People with higher salaries or management positions are likely to live longer
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