LAUSR

In the last year, most of the world’s activities stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but not research: we especially observed a fast race for new insights in COVID-19 and also in applying new technical approaches for COVID-19. In this sense, this special issue collects contributions about applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to global epidemics. In the fight against epidemics, medical staff is on the front line; however, behind the line, the battle is fought by the government officials, researchers, and data scientists. AI has been helping nations with computer modeling and simulation for predictions in many applications, such as predictions of the overall economic situation, tax incomes, and population development. In the same manner, AI can prepare the governments for emergency situations by backing the medical science. AI plays a key and cutting-edge role in preparing and dealing with the outbreak situation of global epidemics. It can help researchers analyze global data about known viruses to predict the information of the next pandemic and the impact it will have. Not only prediction, AI also plays an increasingly important role in assessing a country’s readiness, early detection, identification of patients, generating recommendations, situation awareness, and more. It is up to the right input and the innovative ways by humans to leverage what AI can do.