“This model can predict almost anything”
American scientists have created a death calculator. Using artificial intelligence, the program calculates the date of death with an accuracy of 80 percent. The model focuses on such indicators as income, standard of living, profession and illness.
Most people are hesitant to find out when they might die, but a death calculator has recently been developed that, using artificial intelligence, can predict when a person will cease to exist with frighteningly accurate accuracy.
“We use the technology behind ChatGPT, for analyzing people's lives, representing each person as a sequence of events that happen to him,” lead author of the study Sun Lehmann tells The New York Post.
In the report, the authors present an algorithm known as “life2vec,” which uses individual details of a person's life—including income, occupation, location and medical history—to determine life expectancy with 78 percent accuracy.
“We use the fact that in a certain sense human lives are similar to language,” Lehmann explains, “just as words follow each other in sentences, events follow each other in human lives.”
A little Different from ChatGPT, life2vec can calculate the life outcomes of a man or woman by carefully studying their past.
“This model can predict almost anything,” says Sun Lehmann, noting that the research team also used specialized software to predict people's personalities and international travel decisions.
“We predicted death because “This is something people have been working on for years,” the researcher adds, “so we had a good idea of what was possible.”
The team studied a diverse sample of 6 million Danes, who varied in gender and age, between 2008 and 2020. The analysts used life2vec to find out which subjects were likely to live at least four years after January 1, 2016.
The researchers provided the AI with specific information about each study participant, using simple language such as: “In September 2012 Francisco received 20 thousand Danish kroner as a guard at the castle in Elsinore” or “During her third year at boarding high school, Hermione attended five elective classes.”
They then assigned different numerical values to each piece of data. There, the forearm fracture is designated as S52; working in a tobacco shop as IND4726.
Using the information provided, the life2vec calculator almost accurately predicted who will die by 2020 in more than 3/4 of cases.
According to the study, some of the factors that may contribute to earlier death include being male, having a mental health diagnosis or being in a skilled profession. Earning a higher income or holding a leadership position were associated with longer life.
However, Lehmann emphasizes in an interview with the American publication that not a single participant in the study was given predictions about his death.
“It would be very irresponsible,” the researcher stresses, noting that the team hopes to eventually share more details about their findings in a way that protects the privacy of those participating in the study.
Currently The bot is currently unavailable to the general public. And once it's widely adopted—if it ever happens—the expert says AI likely won't be used to inform specific individuals in cases such as writing insurance policies or making hiring decisions.
“Predictions are not used for anything,” the scientist insists, “the point of life2vec is to understand what is possible – and what is impossible – to predict.”
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