Integrative Medicine Research 9 (2020) 100434

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Integrative Medicine Research

journal homepage: www.imr-journal.com

Editorial

Artificial intelligence and COVID-19: A multidisciplinary approach

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a colossal toll in human suffering and lives. A significant amount of new
Integrative medicine scientific research and data sharing is underway due to the pandemic which is still rapidly spreading.
Artificial intelligence There is now a growing amount of coronavirus related datasets as well as published papers that must
COVID-19
be leveraged along with artificial intelligence (AI) to fight this pandemic by driving news approaches to
Drug Discovery
drug discovery, vaccine development, and public awareness. AI can be used to mine this avalanche of new
Vaccine development
data and papers to extract new insights by cross-referencing papers and searching for patterns that AI
algorithms could help discover new possible treatments or help in vaccine development. Drug discovery
is not a trivial task and AI technologies like deep learning can help accelerate this process by helping
predict which existing drugs, or brand-new drug-like molecules could treat COVID-19. AI techniques can
also help disseminate vital information across the globe and reduce the spread of false information about
COVID-19. The positive power and potential of AI must be harnessed in the fight to slow the spread of
COVID-19 in order to save lives and limit the economic havoc due to this horrific disease.
© 2020 Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

To date the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has caused thou-
sands of deaths and infected hundreds of thousands more. The
global spread of COVID-19 continues to grow exponentially. Many
efforts have been undertaken to accelerate artificial intelligence
(AI) research in order to combat this pandemic. As requested by the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the COVID-
19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19) has recently been released and
contains over 29,000 machine learning (ML) readable articles con-
cerning the novel coronavirus.1 The White House has issued a call
to action for the nation’s AI experts to help answer key questions
related to COVID-19.1 We believe that AI can be harnessed to com-
bat this deadly pandemic and spur innovation in four key areas:
drug discovery, vaccine development, public communications, and
integrative medicine.
Drug discovery and vaccine development
With the spread of COVID-19 showing no signs of slowing and its
relatively high mortality rate when compared to other viral bases
illnesses such as influenza, it is essential to develop vaccines and
antiviral medications against SARS-CoV-2. In 2019, the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases sponsored the first U.S.
clinical trial on an AI-based flu vaccine.2 The vaccine was devel-
oped by scientists at Flinders University first using an AI program
they created called synthetic chemist which generated trillions of
synthetic compounds.2,3 The group then used another AI program
called Search Algorithm for Ligands (SAM) which uses AI capabili-
ties to sift through the trillions of compounds and determine which
would be good candidates as vaccine adjuvants.2,3 This approach
can shorten the vaccine development process by several years.
While a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 has already entered human trials,
the efficacy is unknown. An AI-based approach could help screen
compounds to be used as potential adjuvants for the SARS-CoV-2
vaccine, along with screening new compounds based on modeling
of potential mutations to the novel coronavirus. This will help us
be prepared to develop vaccines as the virus potentially mutates.
Furthermore, AI can aid in both screening currently available
drugs and accelerating the process of antiviral development to help
treat COVID-19. AI algorithms could be trained using the CORD-19
dataset and the resulting model could then be used to screen for
existing drugs that potentially demonstrate efficacy in the treat-
ment of COVID-19. This screening approach could be used, for
example, to identify generic medications that may be effective
against COVID-19. Regarding future drug design of SARS-CoV-2
antivirals, a team has already begun using the AI-equipped IBM
supercomputer SUMMIT to be used in the treatment of SARS-CoV-
2.4 The team is using a computational model of the spike (S-protein)
of SARS-CoV-2 to model its interaction with the human ACE2
receptor.4 They are using SUMMIT to enact an ensemble docking
virtual high-throughput screening campaign and to identify small-
molecules which can either bind to the protein-receptor complex
or the protein alone.4 In doing so, small-molecules that have the
ability to limit viral recognition of host cells or disrupt host-virus
interactions can be rapidly identified.4 Using this technique, tril-
lions of small molecules can be rapidly modeled and consecutively
tested.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imr.2020.100434
2213-4220/© 2020 Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
2 Editorial / Integrative Medicine Research 9 (2020) 100434
Revolutionizing public communication: chatbots
While AI may assist in the discovery of novel drugs and vac-
cines, it can also help ease the stress placed on medical hotlines.
Call centers nationwide that are dealing with the COVID-19 pan-
demic are notoriously understaffed. The Washington Department
of Health (DOH) repurposed their Poison Center hotline, originally
consisting of only four individuals, to advise concerned citizens.5
In public health crises, it is difficult for state departments to allo-
cate resources in order to scale up operations and reliably service
callers. Though the Washington DOH is slowly increasing staffing
and contacting other vendors, the hotline wait times still reach up
to 38 min.5 Furthermore, limitations in technology allowed the hot-
line to only keep a maximum of ten calls on hold.5 In public health
crises, it is critically important to ease public tension. With the
unprecedented virality of COVID-19, call centers across the world
are likely to be overtaxed, and people who test positive for COVID-
19 may not receive proper medical guidance to manage the risk
of COVID-19 and reduce its transmission. Artificial intelligence has
the potential to revolutionize public communications and deliver
alternative methods to dissipate public information.
AI-powered chatbots have been used with success in clinical
scenarios and can advise many more people than a manned call
center. Bibault et al. studied the quality of responses provided to
patients with breast cancer from a team of physicians and an AI-
powered chatbot.6 The team reports noninferiority between the
patients’ rating of the quality of responses of the chatbot versus the
physicians.6 Greer et al. reports on Vivibot, Vivibot.7 This chatbot
was advertised in-part through Facebook and deployed in Face-
book Messenger. Rather than setting up hotlines, state departments
could deploy chatbots through media services such as Facebook
Messenger in order to quell panic and provide clinical informa-
tion to the public.7 This suggests that chatbots could be widely
disseminated and aid more people than conventional call centers.
Integrative medicine
Thus far no aspects of integrative medicine have specifically
been validated for the management of COVID-19 in randomized
controlled trials.8 However, there certainly is interest in the use of
integrative medicine for the management of COVID-19. Currently,
it is known the virulence and pathogenicity is associated with
viral activation of cytoplasmic NLRP3 inflammasome.8 This inflam-
masome in upregulated NFkb macrophages and Th1 cells results
in proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1B and IL-18).8 These cytokines
help mediate the pathogenic inflammation involved with much
of the virulence and symptoms of COVID-19. This knowledge has
enabled many potential integrative medicine considerations for
risk reduction of COVID-19. This includes adequate sleep, stress
management, zinc, Vegetables/ fruits +/- isolated Flavonoids, cur-
cumin, melatonin, and Sambucus nigra (Elderberry).8 As more
is learned about pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2, an AI based
approach may provide great benefit in screening possible inte-
grative medicine techniques for the risk reduction of COVID-19.
AI based screening methods could be used to specifically screen
for integrative options that can help mediate the inflammatory
responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Such an AI based approach can
lead to a far more rapid deployment of integrative medicine tech-
niques in the fight against COVID-19.
Conclusion
In the following weeks, we will likely see a colossal uptick of
COVID-19 cases, both within the United States and globally. This
pandemic arises due to the substantial virality of SARS-CoV-2, and
locations of major sources of outbreak are facing a host of ground
problems including a shortage of beds, ventilators, masks, gowns,
and medical staff, amongst others. Though the situation may appear
grim, it is important to draw attention to AI technologies that can
ameliorate some of the most pressing and timely problems that this
pandemic has created.
Leveraging the power of AI, trillions of compounds can be
screened in a remarkably short amount of time allowing for the
rapid identification of drug and vaccine candidates. AI will certainly
not be the only factor in the development of a successful antiviral
drug or vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Nevertheless, it is important
for the scientific community to realize that we have powerful AI
technology which can at the very least speed up the process. In
this time of need, it is essential that pharmaceutical companies and
basic science laboratories cooperate with industry leaders such as
Google and IBM that have powerful AI capabilities. With COVID-19
spreading in our local communities, it is time to utilize our AI capa-
bilities in the race to develop an effective vaccine and antivirals.
Frightened citizens are looking to receive guidance in these
worrisome times and frequently turn to call centers for advice.
Unfortunately, these call centers are limited by both staff and
technological limitations. The amount of callers that a hotline can
service is relatively small, and callers are placed on lengthy wait
lists. This cluster of conundrums contributes to a rising sense of
panic in the general population. The creation of chatbots that can be
widely disseminated to educate masses of people across the globe
can reduce panic and markedly curtail the spread of false informa-
tion regarding COVID-19. People could ask for advice from state
licensed or approved chatbots which can relay truthful and reli-
able information. These chatbots have already been built in popular
messaging platforms that many young people already use, such as
Facebook Messenger. People who are receiving false information
on these platforms can be redirected to a state approved chatbot
to receive effective and valid information. The presence of chatbots
on familiar interfaces increases approachability and helps fight the
misinformation also spreading in these applications.
While AI is not a panacea for all the unprecedented challenges
created by this pandemic, it can create innovation in multiple
diverse sectors, which may ultimately aid clinicians, patients, and
worried citizens alike.
Emerging approaches combining integrative medicine with AI
could create unique solutions and aid in the fight against this deadly
pandemic.
Authors’ contribution
Funding Acquisition: N/A.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Funding
None.
Ethical statement
None.
Data availability
None.
 Editorial / Integrative Medicine Research 9 (2020) 100434
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Abhimanyu S. Ahuja: Conceptualization, Methodology, Soft-
ware, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data
curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visual-
ization, Supervision, Project administration. Vineet Pasam Reddy:
Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation,
Resources, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review &
editing, Visualization. Oge Marques: Methodology, Software, Val-
idation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation,
Writing - review & editing, Visualization.
Acknowledgements
None.
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a,∗,1
Abhimanyu S. Ahuja
Vineet Pasam Reddy b,1
Oge Marques c
a Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida
Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
b Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University,
Jupiter, Florida, USA
c College of Engineering and Computer Science,
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: aahuja2016@health.fau.edu
(A.S. Ahuja)
1
Authors have contributed equally to this work.
21 May 2020
Available online 27 May 2020