How Could Facebook Impact Your Next Trip to the Doctor?
In the very near future, if your magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is less stressful, you may have Facebook to thank.
Facebook AI Research, known as FAIR, includes researchers in five global locations who aggressively study and publish findings related to artificial intelligence. By generously sharing their research with academic and medical communities, FAIR researchers are helping to facilitate answers to practical problems.
Facebook and the fastMRI Project
One example of how Facebook is parlaying its findings into unexpected and beneficial healthcare solutions is the collaboration between Facebook researchers and the NYU School of Medicine, focused on improving MRI testing. By potentially making MRI testing up to ten times faster, this insightful look into the human body can be available to countless more patients and can yield valuable lifesaving insights in a fraction of the time the test once required.
All of the data fed into the fastMRI project is sanitized of identifiable information, making the process fully HIPPA-compliant. Just as importantly, none of the information used includes personal Facebook data.
Daniel Sodickson, MD, PhD, vice chair for research in radiology and director of the Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research at NYU School of Medicine, explained, “One of the goals of our research, in addition to trying to solve the problem of reconstructing from under-sampled data, is to provide resources that allow other bright minds to tackle the problem. The idea is that we will open-source both our methods and the architecture we are using so that other researchers can work with them.”
Think Again
If you had no idea that Facebook was involved in this type of meaningful and transparent research, you’re not alone. Many people assume that Facebook’s vast network of information, talent and opportunity is used only to infiltrate and manipulate consumer decision-making. Instead, a look at the research topics currently underway by the FAIR team may have you rethinking what you thought you knew about Facebook. Facebook Research Projects.
