CHARLIE MITCHELL

Last updated14:52, August 18 2017

JOSEPH JOHNSON/STUFF

Albi Whale and his father, Dr David Whale, left.

It runs an internationalcompany, helps manage a doctor's office on the side and soon "Zach" will be the face of artificial intelligence (AI) in Christchurch.

Zach is billed as one of the world's most powerful supercomputers, an AI system that interacts with people like they do each other.

It is expected to be on display in a restored heritage building inChristchurch by 2019, withan education centre and virtual classrooms, and ways for the public to have conversations with it.

The non-commercial technologywas bought and adapted by the Terrible Foundation, a social enterprise run by Christchurch-based entrepreneur Albi Whale.

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Whale founded Terrible Talk, a non-profit internet and phone provider.

Earlier this year, Zach became chief executive of Terrible Talk:Itruns virtually the entire company, including handling the company's accounts, making management decisions, andanswering customer queries via email.

Whale's father and colleague, Dr David Whale, said Zach was unlike other AI systemsin that it was built from the ground up around human interaction.

"You can talk to it, write to it. You can draw pictures andit will respond.This is a system that interacts with us the sameway we interact with each other."

One of Zach's most promising applicationswasin the healthcare system, as a digital assistant.

For the last six weeks, Christchurch GP Dr Rob Seddon-Smith has used it to handle tasks in his Hei Hei clinic.

Seddon-Smith who has been teaching the AI, which improves itselfthrough feedback presented his findings on Thursday. He said they were astonishing.

The AI listens to his consultations and writes up the patient notes. It doesn't transcribe, but truncates and expresses the important parts of the conversation ina readable way they were vastly better than Seddon-Smith's own notes, he said.

"He can listen to the consultation, capture the very essence of the words and record them in a recognisable form. It works," he said.

"This set of notes is the first ever, anywhere in the world, to be created only by computer. I didn't type anything, I simply chatted with my patient."

Other AI, such as Apple's Siri,"couldn't do anything close" to what Zach could, he said.

Patients would be able to ring and askit for their medical information,make appointmentsand have questions answered. It recognises voice patterns to verify identities.

Tests attempting to break its security systemshad been unsuccessful, including by its own creators.

What clinched Seddon-Smith's belief in Zach's capabilities was when, unprompted, it put the phone number for a crisis hotline into its notes for a suicidal patient.

It textedhim one night despite not having his phone number to tell him his email inbox was full.

Ittook away all the mundane tasks doctors had to doand allowed him to focus on his patients.

"It can address some of the most complex issues in healthcare and do so efficiently, safely and above all, equitably. It is one technology built from the ground-up to leave no one behind."

Councillor Deon Swiggs said it was expected the AI would be installed in a restored heritage building, mixingthe city's past with its future.

"It's exciting that by 2019, Christchurch will be home to one of the world's largest supercomputers.It's actually reallyincredibleto think about," he said.

"The investment here is huge, and I don't think that can be understated. It will stimulate tech tourism, a massive industry . . . it will increase Christchurch's credentials as a city of opportunity and of technology."

There were lots of questions about the impact AI would have in the future, particularly for people'sjobs, he said.

"I think it's really important to have an AI in Christchurch that we are going to be able to integrate with and engage with, so people can take away the fear of what these things are."

In its current form,Zachcan speak and holdconversations, but its voice capacity is turned off as it is too resource intensive.

By the time it isinstalled in Christchurch, it is expected to have greater capacity, and will be able to hold conversations with the public.

-Stuff

Read more:

Zach, a supercomputer that can hold conversations, is coming to Christchurch - The Press