adobo FOI 2019: The Future of Health in the Face of Art and AI, as Explored by Adaptive AI Managing Director Carlo Almendral

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — “Art” and “Technology” are two words you won’t usually put together, but at this year’s adobo Festival of Ideas, Adaptive AI Managing Director Carlo Almendral said they can actually work together. 

Tackling the impact of art and Artificial Intelligence to our health is Carlo Almendral, Managing Director of Adaptive AI, who explored the relationship between the three in his talk. #adoboFOI2019 pic.twitter.com/PyRPmkY8yI

— adobo magazine (@adobomagazine) December 5, 2019

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With a session entitled, “Health <AI> Art — How Art and AI Affect Health”, Almendral, who candidly admitted he isn’t a health expert, spoke about the role of Art and Artificial Intelligence and how it can potentially improve a patient’s anxiety and depression levels, as well as his/her overall health. He started with one of the hottest topics when it came to mental health and technology: social media. 

To put it simply, the world’s largest online platforms have data on each person’s interests, wants, needs, and the people that are closest to them, and naturally brings these types of content closer to us through algorithms or AI. And when our closest friends post something about the things we’re most interested in, that’s even better for algorithms to latch on and redeliver to us. Hence, envy turned discontent, turned contempt, turned anxiety or depression — establishing an unfortunate cycle in the fabric of society that resulted from its relationship with technology.

“There has to be something better in life than being really, really, really good at getting people to click on things online.” – Carlo Almendral #adoboFOI2019 pic.twitter.com/bStMjCzwio

— adobo magazine (@adobomagazine) December 5, 2019

Almendral shared several studies that illustrate how art effectively increases people’s happiness in hospitals. With this, he explored the possibility of using AI to not only bring us closer to our interests online, but as well as offline through art. If we can use AI to make faces, can we use it to make art? Find out the answer and watch his full session below: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ye13z_XU9I