AI can predict tipping points before they happen
Potential applications span from economics to epidemiology
ANYONE CAN spot a tipping point after it’s been crossed. Also known as critical transitions, such mathematical cliff-edges influence everything from the behaviour of financial markets and the spread of disease to the extinction of species. The financial crisis of 2007-09 is often described as one. So is the moment that covid-19 went global. The real trick, therefore, is to spot them before they happen. But that is fiendishly difficult.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Critical moment”
From the July 20th 2024 edition
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