Researchers from Denmark and the United States have developed a new online AI death calculator that can predict a person’s risk of dying within the next few years. Called the “Doom Calculator”, this tool aims to estimate an individual’s mortality based on their health profile and lifestyle factors.
Doom Calculator
Enter health data to estimate mortality risk
My Health Data
How Does It Work?
The Doom Calculator was trained on health data from over 10,000 people aged 35-75 years old. Using an algorithm, it can take into account parameters like a person’s age, weight, smoking habits, family medical history, blood test results and other health stats. It then calculates a percentage risk estimate of the chance they will die within 5-10 years. During testing, the Doom Calculator successfully predicted around 75% of cases who ended up passing away in the short term. While not perfect, this shows significantly better performance at quantifying mortality risk compared to standard healthcare approaches.
Note: This calculator is for informational purposes only and is not 100% accurate. The results are intended to raise health awareness and are not meant to harm or diagnose. Consult with a healthcare professional for personalized advice. We wish you a happy and long life!
Potential Applications
The creators of the tool suggest it could have value in multiple settings:
- Helping patients visualize and understand their health risks
- Prioritizing medical interventions for those most in need
- Life and health insurance risk assessment
- Public health screening programs targeting at-risk groups
Of course, more research is still needed to further evaluate and refine the Doom Calculator before it is ready for real-world usage. And there will inevitably be ethical considerations around the appropriateness of predicting individual death probabilities. But the concept shows promise to better inform people of their health prognosis based on their own personal attributes.
Conclusion
The Doom Calculator offers an intriguing way to potentially assess mortality risk in the near future based on a combination of health parameters. While still an experimental concept in need of further development, its relatively high accuracy shows the promise of using AI algorithms to make data-driven predictions about life expectancy. Of course, estimating when someone might die is filled with emotion, ethical questions, and unintended consequences to weigh as well. Doom Calculator creators advise using caution if attempting to integrate such an approach into real-world practice. However, as processing power and health data sets continue improving, attempts to quantify mortality seem inevitable. The Doom Calculator offers an early demonstration of both the capabilities and challenges that lie ahead.
FAQs
Is this legitimately predicting when I will die?
The Doom Calculator gives an estimate of the probability you might die within 5-10 years based on health and lifestyle factors. It cannot say exactly when any one individual will die. The creators estimate it has about 75% accuracy based on early testing.
What health data does it use to make the calculation?
The algorithm considers parameters like age, weight, smoking status, blood test biomarkers, family disease history, and other statistics that relate to medical risk. The more complete health profile provided, the more accurate the mortality risk estimate.
Can I game the system to get a lower score?
Providing false health data would obviously produce an incorrect risk estimate. The tool is only useful if the input details truly reflect an individual’s current health status across a range of categories.
What is the purpose behind developing this tool?
The creators suggest several practical applications, including allowing patients to better visualize their health risks, helping doctors prioritize care needs, and improving clinical trial candidate vetting. Part of innovating involves simply exploring what predictive analytics approaches are possible when health data is available.
Does this account for unexpected life events that could impact longevity?
No – the Doom Calculator risk percentages are based solely on health and medical factors. External life events like accidents or unknown illnesses that could unexpectedly impact lifespan would not be incorporated into the algorithm.