Emerging technologies such as AI and big data are accelerating their integration with healthcare. The 2nd IKCEST “The Belt and Road” International Big Data Competition and the 6th Baidu & Xi’an Jiaotong University Big Data Competition, hosted jointly by the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology under the Auspices of UNESCO (IKCEST), China Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology (CKCEST), Baidu, Xi'an Jiaotong University, is nearing the end of the semi-finals. During the final sprint, Wang Chen, the special consultant of the competition, the sponsor of the "Cabin Hospital" and the Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Wang Haifeng, the CTO of Baidu, had a wonderful conversation on the theme of “Forecasting the future incidence of highly pathogenic contagious diseases and provided suggestions for the contestants in the final sprint.

In the dialogue, Wang Chen and Wang Haifeng discussed the role of AI in the medical industry and the cultivation of AI and medical interdisciplinary talents. Wang Chen believes that there are many factors influencing the forecasting of the spread trend of highly pathogenic contagious diseases, and big data analysis, which is characterized by multiple and high-order operations, is helpful for us to analyze the epidemic situation and grasp the rules of the disease. In the long run, medical development requires the integration of multiple disciplines. Breaking the ice among medical science and other fields, including information science, will make medical development burst out a greater productivity.

Wang Haifeng echoed this view from the perspective of AI development. He said that this is the first time that big data competition has been combined with medicine in 6 years. He hoped that artificial intelligence and big data technology can help us better study the ways and rules of disease transmission, and then do a good job in epidemic prevention and control. The cultivation of interdisciplinary talents will play a greater role in the implementation of artificial intelligence technology in the field of medical and health.

In recent years, with the maturity of artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies, its importance in enabling all walks of life and promoting industrial change has become increasingly prominent. Especially during the epidemic period, with the help of artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies, the measures of epidemic screening, prevention and control, diagnosis assistance, etc. have become an important combat force for epidemic prevention and control.

As for how we can use big data and AI to forecast the spread trend of highly pathogenic contagious diseases, Wang Chen explained: "The trend forecast of big data can forecast the whole result of a number of things with logical relationship by using mathematical methods, input algorithms, simulation models, and current information technology."

Wang Haifeng explained this topic from the perspective of the application of AI and big data. Big data itself is constantly and dynamically generated, and will change with the disease itself, he said. On this basis, according to a large number of collected data, combined with artificial intelligence algorithm, mining out a variety of potential rules, and then build a model, and finally find out the rules of disease.

In addition to forecasting, big data and AI have penetrated every aspect of the healthcare industry. For example, Wang said that intelligent robots may be able to assist doctors and nurses in hospital wards and laboratory inspectors to do much of their work in the future. In response, Wang Haifeng took the example of Baidu's Apollo unmanned vehicle, which went into the hospital during the epidemic and assisted in food delivery and disinfection. In addition, Wang also introduced Baidu's clinical assistant decision-making system (CDSS) to Wang Chen.

CDSS system is a clinical assistant decision support system based on the principles of evidence-based medicine, which is created by Baidu through inputting massive teaching materials, clinical guidelines, pharmacopoeia and high-quality medical records of Grade-A hospitals, based on Baidu natural language processing, knowledge mapping and other AI technologies. It includes multiple functions such as auxiliary interrogation, auxiliary diagnosis, treatment scheme recommendation, medical advice quality control, etc., which can help the grassroots doctors in an all-round way to improve the diagnosis and treatment ability of doctors.

Wang Chen affirmed the application of CDSS: "Based on a certain knowledge base, CDSS uses artificial intelligence to assist decision-making. CDSS will help us with the incompatibility, standard combination and guideline requirements of many drugs that we can't remember or remember. It is helpful for grass-roots doctors, and also has reference value for doctors in large hospitals. "

Talking about the application of Baidu CDSS, Wang Haifeng revealed that Baidu already has CDSS for general practitioners and specialists, as well as a system for rational drug use and a chronic disease management system. These auxiliary diagnosis and treatment systems can help grassroots doctors to judge the condition, including the diagnosis and treatment plan.

In addition to AI, big data and medical treatment, both Wang Haifeng and Wang Chen have set their sights on talents, and both have expressed their views on the future development of talents.

Wang Chen pointed out: "We have never broken the ice between the medical community and the information science community and the professionals and technicians related to big data. We can't really combine IT technology, big data analysis technology with medical problems. Therefore, we should think more about talent training, cultivate talents with multi-learning characteristics, and truly promote the integration of big data and medicine, so that big data can really help medicine. "

In this regard, Wang Haifeng also believes that the cultivation of interdisciplinary talents may play a greater role in the future. "Now Baidu's AI medical team, although there is no one who knows both medicine and computers, has invited a lot of professional doctors to join in and study with people who understand AI."

In addition, Wang Haifeng also had in-depth exchanges with Wang Chen on topics such as giving suggestions to contestants.

Over the years, the international big data competition, which attaches equal importance to scientific research and social value, has become an effective way to cultivate and mine outstanding AI talents, attracting more and more attention from all sectors of society.