Pūrongo

Feature

Big data for good in a post-pandemic Aotearoa

22 September 2021
We must invest in and build a better way forward for all of Aotearoa New Zealand, says UniServices CEO Andy Shenk
By Andy Shenk

As I write this from my home office, Auckland has been at Alert Level 4 for nearly five weeks. Even Level 3 costs the economy millions a day, with the social costs even higher and potentially much longer lasting.

Don’t get me wrong – I fully support the current measures, which are necessary with full vaccination rates still low. However, it’s increasingly clear that Covid-19 is never going to go away. We can’t keep locking down and sealing our borders shut. We must invest in and build a better way forward for all of Aotearoa New Zealand.

I see two keys to getting out of our self-imposed isolation and encouraging a flourishing economy and society.

One is maximising our vaccination rate. The other is the smart, ethical use of data.

Andy Shenk

The opportunities of big data

Advances in data science have played a huge role in the pandemic response – and will help us respond better to the next global pandemic when it arises. In New Zealand, the government’s decisions have been informed by modelling by the likes of Te Pūnaha Matatini. Data-crunching power has been behind our ability to do things like sequence and compare virus genomes, which aids contact tracing. 

Mass vaccination – the only way the world is going to gain control over Covid-19 – also has big data behind it. The ability to quickly analyse large amounts of data has helped scientists develop vaccines at record speed with unprecedented safety monitoring. The University of Auckland-led Global Vaccine Data Network is monitoring 290 million people around the world to ensure the safety and efficacy of those vaccines. 

While I hesitate to say anything positive about the pandemic, it has clearly pushed New Zealand to increase its capacity in data science and artificial intelligence. We now have an opportunity to capitalise on this to help move our economy away from one relying too heavily on primary industry to a high-tech one where our historical disadvantages of smallness and distance don’t matter as much.

Some of our most promising start-ups are built on AI. Pharmaceutical and MedTech companies, a growing sector in New Zealand, rely on the ability to analyse large amounts of data. Big data has tremendous potential in creative industries too, as recently demonstrated through Ars Electronica Garden Aotearoa, a cyber art exhibition that explored the interface between data and the physical world.

“Some of our most promising start-ups are built on AI.”

Andy Shenk

Data to combat Covid

As we reopen our borders, we will get outbreaks even with high vaccination rates. No vaccine is perfect and there will always be people who can’t or won’t be vaccinated. Big data and AI can help us mitigate the risks. 

Outbreaks put more and sicker patients in hospital while reducing available staff, making rostering a challenge. 

RosterLab, which won the University of Auckland’s 2020 Velocity $100K Challenge, uses AI to create staffing rosters that take into account factors including staff skills, legal obligations, patient numbers and the need for Covid-19 bubbles. 

Our borders will need defences as they reopen. Orbis Diagnostics is developing technology to screen large numbers of people for Covid-19 antibodies within 15 minutes. Deployed at airports, it could be a game-changer when we are widely able to return to international travel.

Contact tracing will continue to be important. Systems such as the Covid Tracer app need to up their privacy protection game and cast a wide-enough but not excessively wide net – it mystified me when I recently read the government hasn’t been using Bluetooth tracing, even after asking all New Zealanders to use it. Clearly these systems are valuable but need to be improved.

Data for good in a post-pandemic world

We may never be able to say we live in a post-Covid world, but we will eventually move out of the pandemic phase and into a new normal where Covid-19 is endemic but manageable with vaccines and public health measures. This means some Covid-driven trends are here to stay. 

Social distancing has helped us get used to interacting with people digitally and at a distance. It has also increased the quality and utility of human-computer interaction. Some companies are marrying these trends by producing humanlike avatars people can connect with. Soul Machines, whose digital humans not only look realistic but also respond to the emotions of their human counterparts, is already seeing success in many settings across the globe. Kara Technologies, whose avatars are sign language interpreters and teachers, is improving accessibility for Deaf people widely and safely.

The pandemic has also underscored the need for health equity both in terms of access and outcomes. Currently, access to some health services, such as testing for eye diseases, is a postcode lottery even in New Zealand, never mind in lower-income countries. 

Toku Eyes, which uses AI to analyse eye images, is working to reduce distance and staffing barriers so that people who need these services can access them when they need them. Objective Acuity is using AI to make it easier for anyone, including children and non-verbal adults, to have their eyes tested. This type of work has great potential to improve both health care and equity.

Big data pitfalls

Of course, big data presents dangers as well as opportunities. Algorithms have influenced elections, demonstrated racist bias and contributed to political polarisation. Cyberattacks have crippled organisations and victimised countless people. And far from being weightless environmentally, bitcoin mining alone consumes more electricity than many countries. 

However, there are ways we can avoid or mitigate these problems, some of which themselves involve data and some of which don’t. To give an example of the former, University of Auckland computer scientists Giovanni Russello, Danielle Lottridge and Yun Sing Koh are using machine learning to figure out when people might be most vulnerable to cyberattacks and deploy supports to help them when they need it most.

More broadly, education is crucial in avoiding the dangers of big data. Critical thinking skills combat misinformation and cyberattacks. Improving New Zealand’s unimpressive performance in science and maths education will also help prevent us being left behind in a data-driven economy.

Robust rules to protect privacy and prevent the misuse of data are essential. Māori data sovereignty – the principle that Māori data must be under Māori governance – must be respected. Regulations could also rein in excesses such as the insatiable energy appetites of bitcoin mines. Private industry must act to prevent bias from creeping into their algorithms and to use data in ways that are positive for people, not just shareholders. There is also plenty of opportunity to use data science to advance clean tech. 

Finally, an important skill in a data-driven world is knowing when to unplug from it. As we move past the pandemic, we’ll increasingly be able to put down our phones, spend time with friends and enjoy life. Properly managed, big data will be in the background, helping make it so.

 

Dr Andy Shenk is CEO of UniServices, the research application and commercialisation company of the University of Auckland. 

Big data is among the topics explored in the free virtual conference Aotearoa Future Shapers: Post Pandemic Transformation, 23 September 2021. Watch the talks on demand below.