An app, Pill-iD, has been launched to scan recreational drugs and allows users to identify the type of pills they are taking and the risks associated with it.
UK creative technology agency Rehab and French advertising agency Herezie have announced the prototype for Pill-iD, an app that allows users to scan pills used in recreational drugs with a phone camera, giving them an instant identification of the pill, its likely dosage, risk-level and predicted side effects.
Herezie, a French advertising agency, and Rehab, a UK creative technology agency have announced the prototype of Pill-iD, an app that enables users to scan pills used in recreational drugs with a phone camera, to provide them instant identification of the pill, its risk level, possible dosage, and possible side effects.
There has been an increase in the intake of class A drugs in the UK. ONS crime survey 202 shows that about 1.3 million adults between the ages of 16 to 59 took a class A drug last year. As the lockdown is now ending, people have started anticipating nightclubs and festival’s opening, the need for reduction in drug harm is more urgent.
To use the app, users can open the app and use their camera to snap the pill or upload an existing image of the pill. The machine learning model of the app, tensorflow.js (a google technology) will try to identify the drug searching Nuit-Blanche, a database on different known narcotics in the European market, before showing the user a possible match. All user data are not traceable and are kept anonymous.
The app does not support drug use but is educates users on the risks and information associated with each drug. The project aims to recognize the widespread usage of recreational drugs like MDMA and minimize the harm. It was developed with the hope of saving just one life.
Pill-iD is a working prototype, to be released by winter of 2021. It provides an exciting instance of how AI and machine learning can be used to assist people and save lives. In the future, it might be enhanced to provide additional healthcare applications like making sure Alzheimer’s sufferers take the correct medication.
CEO of Rehab, Rob Bennett, said: “The issue of recreational drugs and the need to reduce harm are a critical health challenge across Europe, and we are glad to develop this app with Herezie. For some people, the topic seems taboo, but our Hack Weeks aims at addressing real societal issues which the app focuses on. The use of recreational drugs should be discouraged but the use of technology in helping people is good. If we can save the life of a single individual with the app, then we have done our job.”
