Page 19 - A U4SSC deliverable - Accelerating city transformation using frontier technologies

ability for remote diagnosis 24/7 is particularly useful in remote areas where access to health care
can be difficult.

Deep learning techniques are also training AI algorithms to recognise cancerous tissues and interpret
pathology images to improve accuracy and speed of diagnosis. AI is also being applied to surgical
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robots. By analysing medical data and complex algorithms, AI can determine the optimal surgical
practices and improve the accuracy and precision of surgical operations. It is estimated that AI-assisted
robotic surgery can lead to a 21 per cent reduction in a patient’s hospital stay. Among the most popular
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surgical robots today is the da Vinci surgical system, which is deployed for minimally invasive surgeries
and has performed nearly 700 000 procedures in the U.S. in 2017 alone. The da Vinci system was
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used in 190 000 operations outside of the United States, with the majority of them being linked to
urological conditions. Another AI-assisted surgery robot is the HeartLander surgical robots, which is
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designed to perform minimally invasive surgery on the surface of a beating heart.
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The Coronavirus pandemic of 2019 (COVID-19) has spread globally, and medical resources are becoming
depleted in many regions. Accelerated diagnosis of COVID-19 and finding high-risk patients with a
worse prognosis is important for early prevention and medical resources optimisation. Deep learning
provides a convenient tool for fast screening COVID-19 and finding potentially high-risk patients. 37

In light of the above, it is evident that AI is fundamentally reshaping city services and operations,
particularly in transportation, waste management and health care. AI is the foundation of a wide
range of frontier technologies, providing the main capability to analyse, interpret and dissect patterns
and information. The application of AI in cities can be expanded further into areas such as finance,
education, supply-chain management and more. Beijing, San Francisco, Austin, Toronto, Seattle and
Singapore are all poised to make significant investments in AI and expand their AI capabilities to become
the leading tech hubs in the world. 38

Accelerating city transformation using frontier technologies | A U4SSC deliverable 9