[The Editors' Verdict] COVID-19 Crisis and Reflections from Fourth Industrial Revolution Experts

The novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) situation is serious. Recently, I was asked by the media, "If unpredictable variables like the COVID-19 virus increase, can the Fourth Industrial Revolution and technological advancements reduce such uncertainties?" In response, I could only give a fundamental answer: "By utilizing technologies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, digital healthcare, and smart cities, it might be possible to predict the COVID-19 situation in advance and respond well to disasters after they occur." Experts in the Fourth Industrial Revolution fields like AI and big data in Korea, including myself, need to reflect on how much we have contributed to predicting and responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

The news about pneumonia patients surging in Wuhan, China, began to emerge gradually at the end of last year. It appeared to be an infectious disease caused by COVID-19, but the Chinese government officially diagnosed and announced it on January 9 of this year, and the World Health Organization (WHO) also officially warned of the risk of spread on the same day. The AI from Canada predicted the global spread of COVID-19 earlier than these organizations. This AI belongs to BlueDot, a startup founded by a Canadian doctor who fought during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak 17 years ago. BlueDot's AI had already issued a report on December 31 last year stating that the virus was spreading from Wuhan, China, and that there was a high possibility of global spread. BlueDot collected and analyzed global news, airline data, and animal disease data using AI and released a report predicting "the virus will spread." In particular, it predicted a high risk of the virus landing in Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. Although Korea has many AI and big data experts and AI companies, they need to reflect on what they have done.

The costs and damages incurred by our government and companies due to this situation are enormous. Our government has selected three strategic investments, eight leading projects, and thirteen innovative growth engines related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The three strategic investments are the data economy (big data, blockchain, sharing economy), artificial intelligence (AI), and the hydrogen economy. The eight leading projects are smart factories, smart farms, smart cities, fintech (finance + technology), new energy industries, drones, future automobiles, and biohealth. The thirteen innovative growth engines include big data, next-generation communications, AI, autonomous vehicles, drones, customized healthcare, smart cities, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), intelligent robots, intelligent semiconductors, advanced materials, innovative new drugs, and renewable energy. Government officials related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution policies also need to reflect. They did not include disaster-related content such as disease prediction and management in the AI and big data fields. Even now, it is necessary to carefully consider adding 'disaster prediction and response' content to the AI and big data fields or establishing disaster prediction and response as a separate field.

The COVID-19 crisis has dealt a heavy blow to our economy, industry, education, and social life overall. Both the nation and its people have paid a huge tuition fee. In the past, SARS lasted nine months from November 2002 to July 2003, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) lasted three years and three months from March 2012 to June 2015, but with the occurrence of COVID-19, the damage is greater than ever before.

One might say that an unpredictable sudden situation occurred, but technology that is powerless and unhelpful to humans is meaningless. Since technologies such as AI and big data analysis have advanced significantly compared to the past, it is expected that by effectively utilizing advanced technologies and accumulated data, damage can be reduced even if acute respiratory diseases like SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 occur. Many people have talked about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but if those technologies do not help us, they are unnecessary. Wisdom is needed to utilize Fourth Industrial Revolution-related technologies so that they benefit us.

Moon Hyung-nam, Professor, Graduate School of Business, Sookmyung Women's University (AI Convergence Business Major)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.