Have you ever wondered how long you will live? Danish scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can help predict this for you.
Death is one of the most frightening concepts for many people. Nevertheless, some individuals still wish to know their life expectancy in order to prepare for the inevitable. Of course, no one can predict the future, but an AI system can achieve this with a high degree of accuracy.
Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have created an AI system called “life2vec”, which can predict a person’s lifespan and the timing of their death.
Are you ready for AI to predict when you will die? (Image credit: Getty).
In developing this AI system, DTU scientists collected data from over a million volunteers who participated in studies in Denmark from 2008 to 2020.
The collected data included educational background, health status, medical records, job characteristics, and life satisfaction levels.
After being trained on the collected data, “life2vec” employed algorithms to predict whether any of the volunteers aged between 35 and 65 would die in 2020. The prediction results showed an accuracy rate of up to 79%.
“We used artificial intelligence to address a question many people have: predicting future events based on current conditions and past occurrences,” shared Dr. Sune Lehman from DTU, the lead researcher.
Dr. Lehman stated that “life2vec” chains together data about an individual, including health status, job satisfaction, and lifestyle habits, to estimate the likelihood of what will happen next based on statistics.
“This AI system views human life as a long chain of events, allowing the AI model to analyze and connect these events to predict subsequent occurrences, including the timing of a person’s death,” Dr. Lehman added.
The study was published in the journal “Natural Computational Science,” and it revealed that the predictions made by the “life2vec” model are 11% more accurate than existing AI computational models.
Dr. Lehman noted that many life insurance companies have utilized AI models to calculate and predict their clients’ lifespans, but she asserted that the “life2vec” model provides significantly more accurate predictions.
Of course, the AI model “life2vec” can only predict lifespan and timing of death due to natural causes or illness, while deaths resulting from accidents remain unpredictable by any AI system.
The question arises: Are people ready for AI to predict when they will die? Knowing the time of their death may lead these individuals to live under constant pressure and heavy burdens, as they would be aware of the impending moment of death.
