Professor Raina MacIntyre, head of the Biosecurity Program (BSP) at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, has been awarded an Ignite Grant of $499,932 to use artificial intelligence (AI) to identify public health disinformation and its effect on communities.
The funding comes from Australia's Economic Accelerator (AEA), a $1.6 billion government initiative that aims to fast-track research projects that have the potential to address concerns in priority areas of the economy, such as medical science, transport, defence capability, and renewables and low-emission technology.
Professor MacIntyre’s grant will support a project that will use artificial intelligence tools including large language models (specialised types of AI that understand language) and EPIWATCH, an advanced AI system for global epidemic surveillance that Professor MacIntyre founded in 2016, to identify and track health disinformation and community sentiment in relation to infectious diseases, in real-time. She will work with Taffy Alahakoon from BSP, Dr Adi Joshi from Computer Science Engineering at UNSW, Dr Leo Stevens from UNSW Industry & Innovation, and partners Microsoft and BizData.
“Disinformation, or ‘fake news’, is a significant challenge in today’s public health field, and unfortunately is a consequence of living in a highly connected world,” says Professor MacIntyre. “It affects community sentiment, which in turn can affect vaccination rates and uptake of other health interventions. AI-driven solutions will help detect and combat disinformation as more threats emerge, and will provide early warnings of negative community sentiment, which can inform health promotion and public health messaging to communities.”
Professor Raina MacIntyre heads up the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute.
Scientia Professor Tony Kelleher, director of the Kirby Institute, acknowledged the significance of the funding.
“This award recognises Professor MacIntyre and her team’s exceptional work combining AI, public health expertise and epidemiological research to tackle a rising issue,” he said. “This project has the potential to make a notable impact in combatting the spread of misinformation.”
Professor MacIntyre’s grant is part of the first round of AEA’s Ignite program, which has seen more than $59 million awarded to 28 universities across the country.
See the full list of successful projects.