A Chinese company has begun marketing a $1,000 artificial intelligence device that tracks mosquitoes as they fly and burns their wings. The device uses technology found in self-driving cars to accurately identify its targets, and relies on artificial intelligence to determine the appropriate time to “fire,” as Keith Bradsher wrote.
During a recent demo held at the offices of Photon Matrix, the device's manufacturer, the white device, which is roughly the size of a brick, seemed remarkably effective. He quickly electrocuted the mosquitoes, turning each mosquito into a green or blue flame with a slight crackle.
This method is very advanced for anyone who has ever wished to get rid of mosquitoes forever. Mosquitoes whose wings were burned could take hours or even days to die, said Wang Quan, CEO and founder of Photon Matrix, based in Changzhou, northwest of Shanghai, as they lay on the ground and shivered slightly.
After the demonstration, he examined the fallen mosquitoes. The wings appeared to be missing, but the legs and bodies appeared intact, and none of them could fly.
But there is a potential danger: A laser powerful enough to paralyze a mosquito may also damage the human eye. The device uses a Class 4 laser, the most powerful class typically used in industrial applications. Such lasers can cause retinal injury in less than a second, so their sale and use are strictly controlled.
While the United States leads the way in developing the most advanced AI models, this device shows how quickly China is integrating super-powerful computing into consumer products. This technology also has military potential. It is not difficult to imagine how a system used today to track and shoot down mosquitoes could be adapted to target the drones of tomorrow. Wang said the company is seeking regulatory approvals in China, Europe and the United States, and he believes Chinese approval is imminent.
U.S. manufacturers can begin selling new lasers after submitting the necessary paperwork to the Food and Drug Administration, which does not conduct product testing, according to Ken Barratt, a former laser safety official at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who oversaw the formulation of global technical standards for research lasers.
Barratt explained that the multiple protection measures provided by Photon Matrix make the device safe. But he warned that a Class 4 laser, which is designed to focus on an object as small as a mosquito, can condense a “large amount of energy” into a small space.
For his part, Wang noted that Photon Matrix initially tested less powerful Class III lasers, but found that they could not reliably inactivate mosquitoes. So the company chose a Class IV laser, limiting the duration of each pulse to one-hundredth of a second — long enough, he said, to burn off a mosquito's wings while reducing the risk of eye damage, but not eliminating it completely. So the wings, which do not absorb heat much, are burned before the mosquito's body is noticeably affected.
To protect people and pets, an AI camera recognizes them and blocks laser firing. The system also identifies reflective surfaces that may reflect rays in unexpected directions. The infrared system provides illumination for the camera so it can operate at night. A separate radar system detects the movement of people or pets in the path of the laser, even in complete darkness.
Buyers must also pass a 15-question safety test, including questions such as: What room is the device least suitable for? (Answer: bathroom with high humidity, enclosed space, and reflective surfaces). Recording a fingerprint to activate the device is only permitted for those who answer all questions correctly.
The mosquito control process relies on “LiDAR” technology, which is an abbreviation for optical detection and ranging technology, and is widely used in self-driving cars. The device fires 100,000 very faint laser pulses per second to map an area on the two-dimensional surface in front of it, tracking moving objects even smaller than a pea as they cross that surface.
The idea of shooting down mosquitoes from the air using lasers dates back to before the current artificial intelligence boom. In 2010, Intellectual Ventures, founded by a former Microsoft chief technology officer, unveiled a similar mosquito control system but did not mass-produce it.
Photon Matrix announced that it had received 5,000 pre-paid orders for the device, and that it had contracted with a manufacturer to produce the device, and production in large quantities is expected to begin within weeks. Wang is already planning to develop a new generation of devices that deliver shorter pulses. He hopes that "the eye's moisture will be able to absorb the laser energy before it reaches the retina in a future model."
Ask a medical question to GBT Chat, Gemini, or any other AI-powered chatbot, and you may be amazed at how quickly it can provide a detailed answer. He can formulate the answer to suit your needs according to the commands you direct to him. However, you need to be careful if you want to truly benefit from this technology, writes Lynn Christensen.
While AI in healthcare has impressive capabilities, it also has limitations, especially when applied by patients themselves, rather than doctors. In this regard, Dr. Adam Rodman, a general physician in internal medicine and an artificial intelligence researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, affiliated with Harvard University, said: “AI-powered chatbots are good for some medical inquiries but not others.”
To help people understand how best to exploit AI in healthcare, Dr. Rudman developed a traffic light system; A green light appears for safe and useful uses, while questions with a yellow light require caution when asked, while a red light identifies inquiries that are best avoided completely.
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming an indispensable tool in all medical fields, as it shapes the way doctors and other health professionals work, from basic research to diagnosing and treating patients.
AI systems learn patterns from huge amounts of data, and then use these patterns to perform tasks typically associated with human thinking. Large language models are a type of artificial intelligence that can recognize and generate human language in a manner similar to human language. AI systems can also undertake tasks, such as identifying signs of cancer in mammograms, that would be difficult for humans to detect.
A growing number of doctors are using AI tools, including large language models, to help make clinical decisions, take notes in medical records, and keep up with medical knowledge.
“The 'green light' questions are the ones you can comfortably ask without discussing them with your doctor, that is, your health care provider,” Dr. Rodman said. For example, you can ask a chatbot to help you understand general medical information, such as: “Explain diabetes to me,” or “What is high blood pressure?” You may also ask the chatbot for advice about diet, such as: “I suffer from lactose intolerance, can you help me develop a suitable menu plan?”
Chatbots can also explain the meaning of doctors' notes, lab reports, and imaging test results. If you don't understand what's written in your medical record, you can ask the chatbot to "explain what the doctor meant by this note" (removing personal identifiers first).
In addition, the AI-powered chatbot can also help you prepare for a doctor’s visit; You can enter information from your last visit and ask: “How should I prepare for this visit?” Tell me three ways.
You can ask “yellow light” questions, but keep in mind that the answers will not replace a doctor's clinical assessment. People often ask chatbots about new symptoms they are experiencing. “There are studies that suggest that large AI-powered language models are just as good, if not better than humans, at detecting new symptoms,” Dr. Rudman explained. However, the fact remains that the level of accuracy depends on the context.
Answers can reflect the way you interact with the chatbot. “For example, these robots will often tell you what they discover you want to hear,” Dr. Rodman said. “Which could be dangerous.” This may lead to misinformation and anxiety.
And so; Instead of writing out a list of symptoms, Dr. Rodman recommended using a command, such as: “I'm having a new headache.” "Can you interview me, as if you were a doctor, to help me explore my symptoms?" Here, the chatbot will proceed to ask questions that put your symptoms in context. In addition to the symptoms you are experiencing, he will ask about the symptoms you are not experiencing.
Dr. Rodman added: “While you can explore new symptoms and potential diagnoses using a chatbot, this should only be done as a first step before talking to a healthcare professional.”
Based on the current limitations of AI; You cannot rely on the accuracy of answers on how to treat and manage health conditions. Avoid asking questions like: Is this treatment plan right for me? Should I take this medication? Is this chemotherapy regimen the right one? These are questions that could be classified as “red light” questions.
Regarding this, Dr. Rodman said: “I tell patients, simply don’t do it.” Treatment decisions involve so many considerations, including physical examinations, medical history, and clinical judgment, that trusting a chatbot is not foolproof.
By the time you read this topic, AI chatbots will have evolved – that's simply how quickly technology changes. However, this does not change the basic takeaway: you should not rely on a medical diagnosis provided by artificial intelligence, and do not consider a chatbot your personal AI doctor. “AI is not a substitute for healthcare professionals,” Dr. Rodman explained.
Doctors are increasingly concerned that weight-loss medications are contributing to new cases of anorexia nervosa, and that there is a lack of safeguards to protect patients with eating disorders.
Tens of millions of patients are currently taking these medications, which can sometimes cause symptoms similar to those of anorexia nervosa: hair loss, dizziness, digestive problems, and severe calorie deficiency. “In this case, we wonder: Is this anorexia nervosa?” says Dr. Katherine Kelly, a family and sports medicine physician in Long Beach, California. Is it an eating disorder? Or is it just a side effect of the medication?
Citing an “urgent need” for guidance, an international coalition of obesity medicine specialists, eating disorder doctors, and other experts recently issued new recommendations for prescribing glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists and eating disorders. Among their suggestions for doctors: Screen all patients for signs of eating disorders before starting to take glucagon-like peptide receptor agonists, and monitor anyone taking these medications periodically.
Neither of these procedures is currently approved practice. Also, most doctors are not trained to recognize signs of eating disorders, which may limit the scope of the new recommendations.
What makes matters more complicated is that many people are obtaining these medications via telemedicine services, with limited or no medical supervision. In a recent study, researchers who tried to purchase weight-loss medications from 49 websites found that only a third of these sites required direct communication with a doctor before prescribing the medications, and that only half of them asked about eating disorders.
“We're starting to prescribe a very dangerous drug when we don't fully know all the side effects,” said Vanessa Longley, chief executive of Beat, a British non-profit that runs a hotline to help people with eating disorders.
There is not enough data available on how common anorexia nervosa is among people who take weight-loss medications. But a recent study examining the use of GLP-1 among people without any apparent medical condition found that the rate of eating disorders in this group was six times higher than the rate in the general population. Research indicates that many people are turning to these medications to achieve dangerous levels of weight loss. If left untreated, anorexia nervosa can lead to osteoporosis, bone fractures, cardiovascular problems, and cognitive disorders. It may also be fatal.
Even if a patient discloses his or her history of anorexia nervosa, doctors do not have adequate guidance about the next step. Do they prescribe medication anyway? Or do they refrain from prescribing it because of this risk, abandoning its benefits?
A growing body of research suggests that for some people with a genetic predisposition to anorexia nervosa, a calorie deficit — such as going on a diet for the first time — may be the trigger for an eating disorder, as their brains are primed to view this calorie deficit as particularly satisfying, creating a vicious cycle that prompts them to further restrict their food intake. The researchers also note that obesity surgery may cause loss of appetite in this way.
There is reason to believe that something similar may happen to some patients taking GLP-1 drugs. “This is a critical turning point,” said Cynthia Bulik, founding director of the Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders at the University of North Carolina and a member of the expert panel that issued the new guidelines. “It stimulates their latent genetic predisposition.”
Dr. Amanda Banks, a physician in Philadelphia and author of a book about the relationship between anorexia nervosa and weight-loss drugs, described these drugs as “powerful pharmacological tools” for suppressing appetite. This makes it an effective treatment for people suffering from obesity. It is also one of the reasons why these medications show promising results in patients with binge eating disorder.
Doctors sometimes diagnose anorexia nervosa by its physical symptoms: rapid and severe weight loss, dehydration, dizziness, and hair loss caused by poor nutrition. But these symptoms may also be the effects of the hormones of GLP-1 medications, which makes diagnosing an eating disorder difficult.
It is also difficult for doctors to distinguish between whether the patient is deliberately trying to reduce the amount of food he eats, or whether the medication is what is pushing him to do so. There is no definitive answer as to how much weight loss is excessive when taking medications designed to help people lose weight.
“We're seeing patients with what we call pathological weight loss,” which can mean losing an unhealthy amount of weight, said Dr. Aaron Kishen, a Nova Scotia-based eating disorder specialist who co-authored the new guidelines. He added: “And they take GLP-1 hormones.”
The distinction between the use of GLP-1 hormones and eating disorders has become so blurred that some researchers question whether the clinical definition of anorexia nervosa needs to change to reflect the symptoms of this disorder in those taking these medications.
While the new guidelines are an attempt to protect against the risks of GLP-1 drugs that may harm patients with eating disorders, implementing these recommendations in practice may be a challenge, especially with the increase in online prescriptions. "If any of us can say, 'I'm 165 pounds, and I have diabetes and high blood pressure,' and none of those things are true, and no one checks that, and then they can get the medication at their door in the morning, that's a problem," Banks says.
