Health and Artificial Intelligence

One in five adults living in the United States uses fitness trackers and health-related applications daily. With this continuously growing statistic, arise ethical concerns of big data collection, and how our fitness data can be used. In collaboration with Allegheny College’s Ethics Technical Leaders and exploration of curriculum that teaches ethics, Vigor is an open-source tool that allows students to explore the implications of releasing personal data to health and exercise apps. Vigor allows students to investigate multiple health risks, currently including Cardiovascular Disease, Metabolic Syndrome, and Type II Diabetes. Users can input multiple metrics to generate accurate vitals such as heart rate, blood pressure, steps per day, daily physical activity.

Predictive analytics will be used in combination with querying medical databases to make medical predictions with the seemingly inconsequential data which fitness applications require and track. This tool will allow students to understand how health and wellness data can be used, allowing them to engage in discussions about the ethics of releasing health and medical information.