Death clock calculator

The death clock calculator is a conceptual idea of a predictive algorithm that uses personal socioeconomic, demographic, or health data (such as gender, age, or BMI) to estimate a person's lifespan and provide an estimated time of death.

Recent research

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In December 2023, Nature Computational Science published a paper introducing the life2vec algorithm,[1] developed as part of a scientific research project.[2][3] Life2vec is a transformer-based model, similar to those used in natural language processing (e.g., ChatGPT or Llama), trained to analyze life trajectories. The project leverages rich registry data from Denmark, covering six million individuals, with event data related to health, demographics, and labor, recorded at a day-to-day resolution.[4] While life2vec aims to provide insights into early mortality risks and life trends, it does not predict specific death dates, and it is not publicly available[5] at the moment.

Some media outlets and websites misrepresented the intent of life2vec by calling it a death clock calculator,[6] leading to confusion and speculation about the capabilities of the algorithm.[7] This misinterpretation has also led to fraudulent calculators pretending to use AI-based predictions, often promoted by scammers to deceive users.

References

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  1. ^ Savcisens, Germans; Eliassi-Rad, Tina; Hansen, Lars Kai; Mortensen, Laust Hvas; Lilleholt, Lau; Rogers, Anna; Zettler, Ingo; Lehmann, Sune (2024). "Using sequences of life-events to predict human lives". Nature Computational Science. 4 (1). Nature Publishing Group US New York: 43–56. doi:10.1038/s43588-023-00573-5. PMID 38177491. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  2. ^ "Processing a life like a language helps predict future personal events". Social Data Science (SODAS), University of Copenhagen. 2024. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  3. ^ Mello-Klein, Cody (2023-12-19). "This AI model could predict your lifespan—but that's not really the point, researchers say". Northeastern Global News. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  4. ^ Matthew, Sparkes (2023-12-18). "AI trained on millions of life stories can predict the risk of early death". The New Scientist. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  5. ^ Savcisens, Germans; Lehmann, Sune. "life2vec - Official Model and Publication Source". Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  6. ^ Perry, Alex (2024-04-30). "AI death calculator? People are searching for their 'death date' with this creepy (fake) bot". Mashable. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  7. ^ Cost, Ben (2024-04-29). "Why you shouldn't use the scarily accurate AI death calculator". The New York Post. Retrieved 2024-10-19.