Apple Is Working on iPhone Features to Help Detect Depression, Cognitive Decline
Company is working with UCLA, Biogen to see if sensitive data like facial expressions, typing metrics could signal mental-health concerns
Apple Inc. is working on technology to help diagnose depression and cognitive decline, aiming for tools that could expand the scope of its burgeoning health portfolio, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Using an array of sensor data that includes mobility, physical activity, sleep patterns, typing behavior and more, researchers hope they can tease out digital signals associated with the target conditions so that algorithms can be created to detect them reliably, the people said. Apple hopes that would become the basis for unique features for its devices, according to the people and documents.
The efforts spring from research partnerships that Apple has announced with the University of California, Los Angeles, which is studying stress, anxiety and depression, and pharmaceutical company Biogen Inc., BIIB -0.92% which is studying mild cognitive impairment. “Seabreeze” is Apple’s code name for the UCLA project and “Pi” is the code name for the Biogen project, according to the people and documents.
Biogen launched its study on Monday, but many of the details about Apple’s studies haven’t been reported. The pharmaceutical company received approval this summer from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new drug to treat mild cognitive impairment.
Representatives for Apple, Biogen and UCLA declined to comment.
Much of Apple’s past health work has focused on features for its smartwatch. The mental-health and cognitive-decline research leverages more-sensitive iPhone data and shows Apple’s health unit is now looking at features for the company’s flagship product, according to people familiar with the plans.
The research projects are still at early stages, and may never lead to new device features, the people said. While prior academic studies have shown some evidence that people with certain mental-health conditions use their digital devices differently than others, it remains to be seen if reliable algorithms can be created to detect the conditions, according to researchers.
Apple also has a research project with Duke University that aims to create an algorithm to detect childhood autism, including to use the iPhone’s camera to observe how young children focus, according to the documents and people familiar with the work.
The promise of detection tools for people with severe neurological or mood disorders is that you could intervene early and potentially prevent worse outcomes, said Faraz Hussain, the lead developer at BiAffect, an academic research project at the University of Illinois Chicago that uses typing data from smartphones to predict moods. “It’s the ability to peek inside how our mind is functioning instead of relying on self-reports that are often subjective, using digital exhaust from our daily lives that would otherwise be lost.”
Even though the effort is at an early stage, top Apple executives are excited about the possibility. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who oversees Apple’s health unit, has spoken enthusiastically to employees about the company’s potential to address surging rates of depression and anxiety as well as other brain disorders, according to people who have heard him talk about the efforts.
If they are successful, Apple and its partners could improve the detection of the conditions, which affect tens of millions of people world-wide. But the extent of user tracking that may be required could spark privacy concerns. To address them, Apple aims for algorithms that work on users’ devices and don’t send the data to Apple servers, the documents show.
Much of Apple’s past health work has focused on features for its smartwatch.
Achieving its health ambitions could depend on consumers’ trusting Apple with sensitive data, underscoring why privacy is a ...
The skepticism is not well motivated when it’s clearly a health feature. There is far more valuable information already on phones without everyone stopping using them as is. It feels like sensationalism designed for clicks, which seems to be the Achilles heel in today’s society.
I don't see anything here about productizing the research they're doing. Nor is there any indication of how it actually works (on-device or other). There's also a lot of words about medical data and monitoring children, but it would seem wild to me that Apple somehow gets classified as a healthcare provider based on their current offering.
It would seem that the technology mentioned looks at videos and makes a determination based on that. Does analyzing a video make it medical data? What about the other "medical data" that Apple has? Besides complying with COPPA, what data do they have that's not explicitly opted into?
I simply can't see past the alarmist rhetoric of this post. Especially when the cookie banner doesn't give an option to opt-out, with the option "Ahh, that's alright". Only a little ironic.
From the article: > Apple has partnered with Duke University to research the third brain using advanced medical technology powered by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based on people and documents.
What?
From the WSJ article > Apple has a third brain-related research partnership with Duke University that it hasn’t disclosed.
Amusingly after a Google search, I see that 'third brain' is a thing (a paper gave that name to the epidermis, another gave it to the placenta, is a Spy Kids thing, is a consulting company, is in the name of a book.)
For me, Apple lost the trust. So yes, I don’t not give Apple a benefit of the doubt on this one. The most generous explanation I could come up with is that this is an effort to introduce “good benefits” that could come from the surveillance. That’s of course my take on Apple corporate. I am sure the team within Apple, who is working on this, means well and kudos to them.
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 50.5 ms ] threadhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-wants-iphones-to-help-det...
Company is working with UCLA, Biogen to see if sensitive data like facial expressions, typing metrics could signal mental-health concerns
Apple Inc. is working on technology to help diagnose depression and cognitive decline, aiming for tools that could expand the scope of its burgeoning health portfolio, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Using an array of sensor data that includes mobility, physical activity, sleep patterns, typing behavior and more, researchers hope they can tease out digital signals associated with the target conditions so that algorithms can be created to detect them reliably, the people said. Apple hopes that would become the basis for unique features for its devices, according to the people and documents.
The efforts spring from research partnerships that Apple has announced with the University of California, Los Angeles, which is studying stress, anxiety and depression, and pharmaceutical company Biogen Inc., BIIB -0.92% which is studying mild cognitive impairment. “Seabreeze” is Apple’s code name for the UCLA project and “Pi” is the code name for the Biogen project, according to the people and documents.
Biogen launched its study on Monday, but many of the details about Apple’s studies haven’t been reported. The pharmaceutical company received approval this summer from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new drug to treat mild cognitive impairment.
Representatives for Apple, Biogen and UCLA declined to comment.
Much of Apple’s past health work has focused on features for its smartwatch. The mental-health and cognitive-decline research leverages more-sensitive iPhone data and shows Apple’s health unit is now looking at features for the company’s flagship product, according to people familiar with the plans.
The research projects are still at early stages, and may never lead to new device features, the people said. While prior academic studies have shown some evidence that people with certain mental-health conditions use their digital devices differently than others, it remains to be seen if reliable algorithms can be created to detect the conditions, according to researchers.
Apple also has a research project with Duke University that aims to create an algorithm to detect childhood autism, including to use the iPhone’s camera to observe how young children focus, according to the documents and people familiar with the work.
The promise of detection tools for people with severe neurological or mood disorders is that you could intervene early and potentially prevent worse outcomes, said Faraz Hussain, the lead developer at BiAffect, an academic research project at the University of Illinois Chicago that uses typing data from smartphones to predict moods. “It’s the ability to peek inside how our mind is functioning instead of relying on self-reports that are often subjective, using digital exhaust from our daily lives that would otherwise be lost.”
Even though the effort is at an early stage, top Apple executives are excited about the possibility. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who oversees Apple’s health unit, has spoken enthusiastically to employees about the company’s potential to address surging rates of depression and anxiety as well as other brain disorders, according to people who have heard him talk about the efforts.
If they are successful, Apple and its partners could improve the detection of the conditions, which affect tens of millions of people world-wide. But the extent of user tracking that may be required could spark privacy concerns. To address them, Apple aims for algorithms that work on users’ devices and don’t send the data to Apple servers, the documents show. Much of Apple’s past health work has focused on features for its smartwatch.
Achieving its health ambitions could depend on consumers’ trusting Apple with sensitive data, underscoring why privacy is a ...
It would seem that the technology mentioned looks at videos and makes a determination based on that. Does analyzing a video make it medical data? What about the other "medical data" that Apple has? Besides complying with COPPA, what data do they have that's not explicitly opted into?
I simply can't see past the alarmist rhetoric of this post. Especially when the cookie banner doesn't give an option to opt-out, with the option "Ahh, that's alright". Only a little ironic.
What?
From the WSJ article > Apple has a third brain-related research partnership with Duke University that it hasn’t disclosed.
That makes more sense.