Taiwan AI Labs Founder Ethan Tu (Staff photos/Pang Chia-shan)

When Ethan Tu founded the Taipei City-based research organization Taiwan AI Labs in 2017, he was far from a stranger to those following the country’s technology industry. He is well-known among certain circles as the creator of PTT, one of Taiwan’s largest and most influential online forums since its launch in the mid-1990s.

Much has changed in the years since PTT burst onto the scene, but Tu’s passion for innovation remains as strong as ever. His latest venture is promoting the use of artificial intelligence in academic institutions, nongovernmental groups and enterprises through data exchanges and open-source projects.

According to Tu, Taiwan’s leading role in the global supply of semiconductors means the country is ideally placed to integrate the latest and greatest technologies into the biotech and medical sectors.

The office of Taipei City-based Taiwan AI Labs is filled with advanced artificial intelligence-assisted systems tailored for medical applications. (Staff photos/Pang Chia-shan)

Health care is the ideal field to expand the use of AI given the technology’s ability to quickly conduct big data analyses and modeling, Tu said. Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database contains over two decades worth of data and images to assist in this process, he added.

With access to such a rich resource, Tu’s team is looking to put its combined expertise to good use in the field of precision medicine, providing customized treatment plans tailored to individual patients. This is achieved by combining NHI data with information from wearable sensors recording heartbeat, blood pressure, blood sugar and oxygen saturation.

This approach of preventive medicine ensures people are aware of the warning signs before they get ill, Tu said, adding the organization’s ultimate goal is to utilize the power of AI to relieve the burden on hospitals resulting from avoidable conditions.

Tu discusses plans with a colleague at the Taipei office of Taiwan AI Labs. (Staff photos/Pang Chia-shan)

Last December, AI Labs launched a federated machine learning alliance comprising the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s NHI Administration, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and other medical centers around the country dedicated to innovative applications for AI in health care. Less than a year into the project, the results already look promising, including AI-assisted systems for reading chest X-rays to detect pneumonia and for filtering magnetic resonance images to identify brain tumors.

The federated model, in contrast to traditional centralized techniques, allows multiple actors to build a common learning platform without sharing data. This approach, addressing the critical issues of data privacy and security, is in line with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which entered into force in 2018 and is considered the gold standard globally.

Tu also heads the Taiwan AI Federated Learning Alliance. Launched in January, the group is jointly supported by the MOHW and Ministries of Culture, Economic Affairs, Science and Technology, and Transportation and Communications, as well as the Cabinet-level National Development Council, demonstrating the government’s commitment to marching forward toward a smart island and digital nation. (E) (By Pat Gao)

The power of AI is set to shape the future of health care for Taiwan’s next generation. (Staff photos/Pang Chia-shan)

(This article is adapted from “Next-Gen Medicine” in the May/June 2021 issue of Taiwan Review. The Taiwan Review archives dating to 1951 are available online.)