Taking on depression using AI
Summary
McGill-based startup Aifred Health recently nabbed first place and a $35,000 Milestone Award in the latest stage of the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE. “That’s great for us because we’re a clinical application and we already have protocols for clinical trials that have received conditional approval from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.” Benrimoh explains the challenge that is fueling the team’s work: “It’s really unsatisfying to know we are so bad at predicting which patient is going to respond well to which treatment.” The current method of trial and error in depression treatment can lead to extended treatment periods and worsened symptoms. Last October, representing McGill, they won $15,000 in the Project Par Excellence category at the Forces AVENIR awards, which celebrate Quebec’s exceptional students. There’s also a general strength of interdisciplinarity and belief in people from different fields working together that I love here.” He points out that medical technology using AI is a new space that didn’t exist until fairly recently. “Investors need to understand that the development cycles are longer, but once you actually build one of these apps, there’s a huge potential benefit because of the number of people you can reach,” says Benrimoh.