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AI Medicine Network Software Science

AI Predicts Your Lifespan Using Activity Tracking Apps (engadget.com) 48

Russian scientists have crafted an AI-based algorithm that uses the activity tracking from smartphones and smartwatches to estimate your lifespan with far greater precision than past models. Engadget reports: The team used a convolutional neural network to find the "biologically relevant" motion patterns in a large set of U.S. health survey data and correlate that to both lifespans and overall health. It would look for not just step counts, but how often you switch between active and inactive periods -- many of the other factors in your life, such as your sleeping habits and gym visits, are reflected in those switches. After that, it was just a matter of applying the understanding to a week's worth of data from test subjects' phones. You can even try it yourself through Gero Lifespan, an iPhone app that uses data from Apple Health, Fitbit and Rescuetime (a PC productivity measurement app) to predict your longevity.
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AI Predicts Your Lifespan Using Activity Tracking Apps

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  • "I predict you will live for 4 more seconds. EXTERMINATE!"

    • "I predict you will live for 4 more seconds. EXTERMINATE!"

      The Russian smartwatch is extremely accurate at predicting the time of death.

      When it counts down to zero, it releases the nerve gas in the watch.

  • Obligatory... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Farnsworth: Behold! The death clock. Simply jam your finger in the hole and this read-out tells you exactly how long you have left to live.
    Leela: Does it really work?
    Farnsworth: Well it's occasionally off by a few seconds. What with free will and all.
    Fry: Sounds like fun. How long do I have left to live?
    -Fry puts his finger in the hole and the clock dings-
    Bender: Ooh! Dibs on his CD player!

  • by Ayano ( 4882157 ) on Friday March 30, 2018 @08:58PM (#56356863)
    So you're telling me that people's lifespan were measured accurately? That assumes they they died as predicted within the test phase.

    Given it's Russia they'd need a vodka sensor for that
  • AI didn't predict anything, a simple database analysis did.

    • by geek ( 5680 )

      There is no such thing as AI FFS. God I wish this fucking dumbass trend of calling everything fucking AI would die in a fire. IT HASN'T BEEN INVENTED YET

    • More insurance companies and middlemen are going to find more ways to screw you over using information you never cared about or never thought would reach their twisted minds. AI or not or just some AI -- doesn't matter because this stuff is making people think about doing things that probably were already thought about but abandoned as impractical in the past.

      Facebook and these other companies can keep your DATA private but they can profile and deduce their own information from your DATA and sell that info

  • by pushing-robot ( 1037830 ) on Friday March 30, 2018 @09:06PM (#56356909)

    Smartphone algorithm achieve very great accuracy for lifespan by complete examination of Russian user lifestyle:

    • Diet
    • Exercise
    • Litres of vodka per day
    • Words used to describe President
  • by Anonymous Coward

    The data isn't good enough. Pattern matching a tiny, tiny segment of your life to the averages of a population results in a near meaningless metric. The data is also highly skewed. How many 80 year olds do you know who were providing movement data when they were 30? None of the 30 years old who provided data have reached 80 yet. The data will miss any generational issues and there are definitely changes between generations. What percentage of the population has moved from physical labor into office st

  • by mapkinase ( 958129 ) on Friday March 30, 2018 @09:24PM (#56356957) Homepage Journal

    Could you? A calculator is not AI.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Not life span. Life span is 120. Expected? At birth. Russia is 57. US is 76M/81F. Norway is more. Japan more still. Canada is much less.

    But this is stupid anyway, as is any {quote}AI{quote} prediction. I refer you to

    https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS... [ssa.gov]

  • Really? "AI" is little more than humans programming it. Stop blaming odd behavior on "AI." Blame it on the humans that have launched this AI disaster upon the planet.
  • by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Friday March 30, 2018 @09:42PM (#56357033)

    Congratulations! You have a predicted lifespan of 50 more years!

    Establishing connection to driverless car... SUCCESS

    Your remaining predicted lifespan is now 10 seconds....

    Do you wish to extend your lifespan by upgrading to the paid version for $5000? y/n

  • How does this algorithm tracks diet? It seems difficult to predict lifespan without knowing that.
  • by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Saturday March 31, 2018 @05:48AM (#56358009) Homepage

    Here's roughly the breakdown in Norway, of 100k people:
    Age 0-1 you have 0.63% die, most due to birth defects
    Age 1-40 you have just 1% die, mostly drugs, suicide and massive trauma
    Age 41-67 you have another 8.3% die, mostly lifestyle diseases

    So 90% will make it to retirement age. From there it's quickly downhill, at 75 it's 80% and 95 only 10% remain. So for practical life planning you can expect to grow old (>75) but not very old (<95), of course if you got a family you should have insurance if you die in a car crash or suffer a massive heart attack but that's not a fate you plan for. I doubt there's any app that can give you a more meaningful practical answer even if they could tweak a few percentages correctly.

    In fact I think they got it creepily well planned out, in the last year my life expectancy decreased by 0.97 years. Basically it's almost like an alarm clock counting down, okay you don't know exactly when the end comes but I'm young enough that my death is essentially one year closer per year. It's just the cycle of life I suppose, but it's not like that makes it any better.

  • Can AI shorten your lifespan too because I'm pretty much done here.
  • AI: Time left: 5 ... Me: Years??? AI: 4 ... 3... 2...
  • ..unless you purchase XYZ product (which we've thoughtfully selected for you, based on all the personally identifiable information you've so graciously provided us with) in which case you'll live up to* 50 more years!


    * Not to be used for medical diagnosis purposes. For entertainment only. Your mileage may vary. Illegal in some states. You won't read this anyway. BUY OUR STUFF!!!1!

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