Want to know when you’re going to die? Google tells you so

Google is making and artificial intelligence-powered algorithm that can predict the death of patients within 24 hours of discharge

If we had the chance, would we want to know the date of our death? A question that divides people, for a variety of reasons: there are those who would like to know in order to better plan their lives, knowing when they should die, and those who want to enjoy their existence without an expiration date. But the debate is destined to rekindle since Google can now tell you when you're going to die.

The Mountain View computer giant has created a new algorithm based on artificial intelligence  that is able to predict with 95% accuracy the date of our death. To make this digital "seer" Google has partnered with Stanford University and the Medical School of University of Chicago. The purpose of the project is not pure user entertainment. Google isn't designing an app to tell people when they're going to die, Facebook quiz-style. Mountain View has created the algorithm for medical prevention, in practice artificial intelligence helps hospitals to discharge the terminally ill. In fact, the tool can predict a patient's death 24 hours after discharge from the hospital.

Google's artificial intelligence tells you when you're going to die

According to early tests, Google's artificial intelligence system is 10 percent more accurate and precise than other traditional systems for predicting patients' health on discharge. How, however, does the algorithm figure out the date of our death? Simple, it combines a large amount of data about the sick person, from basic information like gender, age and ethnicity with more complex information like diagnosis, blood work and specific tests. To create a database that would help the algorithm result Google collected  the unidentified data of 216,221 people. Once the data analysis is finished, the artificial intelligence suggests to the doctor whether to discharge the patient or if the sick person's health is still highly at risk and it's best to keep him or her under close observation in the hospital.

Seeing the test results soon in hospitals around the world, doctors could start using Google's artificial intelligence, or similar systems, which have a better accuracy rate on predicting a patient's health than the traditional methods currently used in hospital wards to decide whether or not to discharge a sick person.