Singapore is all set to build its third national supercomputer to expand research in Covid-19 and other healthcare areas. The new supercomputer will train artificial intelligence to predict a patient’s future disease condition within hours. The past data of patients with specific diseases can be fed into the supercomputer to train the artificial intelligence.
This will help in finding out drug combinations for treating Covid-19, while also predicting Covid in a patient. The National Supercomputing Centre Singapore (NSCC) and National University Health System (NUHS) finalised an agreement on Friday (Dec 3) to build the third national supercomputer. It is estimated to be ready by the middle of next year and the government will fund $19 billion for the same. Given that the supercomputer will be located at NUHS, clinicians using it will not have to send the data for analysis to other supercomputers located elsewhere.
The country’s first supercomputer – known as Aspire 1, was set up in 2016, while the second, Aspire 2a, is expected to be functional by early next year.
The new supercomputer can be used to train other systems too. Artificial Intelligence helps a machine identify objects in common places, like a hospital corridor. Then there will be a chatbot that can have conversations with patients. All of this will be a major development in the healthcare sector.
