Liberate AI, an interdisciplinary project uniting researchers from the medical domain, computer science, and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI), aims to develop an AI model capable of supporting doctors in the treatment of ischemic stroke. Serving as a digital assistance system, the AI model is intended to predict the long-term outcome of patients after mechanical thrombectomy, a minimally invasive treatment, as well as potential complications. Using a technology called Swarm Learning, the AI model will be trained in a privacy-preserving fashion on medical data residing at different sites across Germany. Further challenges addressed in the project include the AI’s explainability as well as its ability to make differentiated predictions for patient subgroups. Funded by the Helmholtz Association with 250,000 euros, Liberate AI is a joint project between Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE), the Department of Vascular Neurology at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), and CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security.

The human brain does more than simply regulate synapses that exchange signals; individual neurons also process information through “intrinsic plasticity,” the adaptive ability to become more sensitive or less sensitive depending on context. Existing artificial intelligence semiconductors, however, have struggled to mimic this flexibility of the brain. A KAIST research team has now developed next-generation, ultra-low-power semiconductor technology that implements this ability as well, drawing significant attention.

KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on September 28 that a research team led by Professor Kyung Min Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering developed a “Frequency Switching Neuristor” that mimics “intrinsic plasticity,” a property that allows neurons to remember past activity and autonomously adjust their response characteristics.