The Weather Channel helps prevent allergy

There is a great debate surrounding the advancement of artificial intelligence. Applying what is known as the Internet of Things or Internet of Things has many benefits, but at the same time there may be risks, especially related to the privacy of people and the management of their personal information.
The latest news about The Weather Channel and one of the advantages that it brings to collaborate with the care of people, add a new argument in favor of the development and advancement of technology as they demonstrate that they can work together to improve the day-to-day of the users.

A powerful union

The Weather Channel's forecasts through its application and the website are powered by the latest generation technology they use. The division has the tools since The Weather Company is part of the powerful IBM.
In April 2020, through an official report, they disclosed the news of the possibility of preventing allergies with The Weather Channel through a free tool that provides useful information to prevent allergies fifteen days in advance. In the statement they argue that 68% of people who suffer from these attacks go to the weather forecasts to control the possible symptoms that they can develop.
The option will be available for the moment only for the United States that enters these months in the spring / summer period. One of the most relevant data provided by the news is that pollen is not the most important factor in predicting allergies and therefore the artificial intelligence on which the forecasts are based considers other variables.

AI's work

The new tool from The Weather Channel that collaborates with the care of the population, reports from weather data combined with information provided by IBM's artificial intelligence machine, IBM Watson. The device collects material from different sources and is named in honor of Thomas J. Watson, the first president of the computer company. At this time it is also used to collaborate with the fight against the covid-19.
To achieve the prediction that can help allergy sufferers, the data that is combined are meteorological reports from The Weather Channel plus the information produced by IBM Watson, these are based on factors such as temperature, precipitation levels, humidity, wind, dew amount and anonymous information from users' health and location data. Knowing where the person is helps to understand what characteristics the environment from which they make the inquiry has.
The number of individuals from whom the values ​​are obtained for IBM Watson to generate information is approximately 300 million per month.

What does Watson say?

The new function to prevent allergies with The Weather Channel is called Allergy Insights with Watson, at the moment it is only available in the United States and performs different actions.

• 15 days in advance predicts the person's level of allergy risk, which can be high, moderate or low. Also for specific allergy factors you can warn them 3 days before.
  
  
• If it detects a sharp change in allergy risks, either from very low to very high or vice versa, it sends a notification three days in advance.
  
  
• Make reports that explain how the combination of factors can affect the person.
  
  
• Contains relevant information such as news and material related to allergies. It also has tips to prevent these types of seasonal outbreaks.
  
  
• It offers a detailed division of three types of pollen that can cause symptoms (ragweed, grass, and trees). For each of the variables, it reports at what level it is within a 3-day range. Indicators can be high, low, or moderate.

The latest news about The Weather Channel and the advantages it adds to its application are of great importance regarding the use of artificial intelligence in health. While you have to consider how user data is protected from being used without permission on unwanted occasions, the possibility of preventing allergy with The Weather Channel is a step that can anticipate very useful tools for the life of people.