Scientists have developed a model of artificial intelligence which they say can predict when someone is going to die.
The model called life2vec was built by experts in Denmark and the US and works like a chatbot.
People working on the project were able to 'train' a machine learning algorithm based on an enormous reservoir of data.
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This information was drawn from more than six million real people, more than Denmark's entire population, and included factors such as profession, income, injuries, pregnancy history, and place of residence.
The result of processing all this information was that the model was able to predict someone's likelihood of drying early and their income.
This sort of predictive technology is already widely used in advertising and social media to predict behaviour patterns.
But this AI model takes the predictive power to a different level entirely.
Lead researcher Sune Lehmann explained some social implications of the technology, telling Newswise: "Similar technologies for predicting life events and human behavior are already used today inside tech companies that, for example, track our behavior on social networks, profile us extremely accurately, and use these profiles to predict our behavior and influence us.
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"This discussion needs to be part of the democratic conversation so that we consider where technology is taking us and whether this is a development we want."
She also explained that it is important to remember that all of the data in this case were from Denmark, so they might not apply in the same way in other populations.
There's also the factor that many people are probably not entirely comfortable with knowing the moment and means of their own demise.
But how does it work?
It uses a number of factors in a person's life to build up a profile of them.
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This might include things like someone's job, income, marital status, medical history, and any information which might be useful in building up a picture of somebody.
Each of these is then categorised in a code.
At present the data and algorithm itself cannot be shared publicly.
Lehman said: "We are actively working on ways to share some of the results more openly, but this requires further research to be done in a way that can guarantee the privacy of the people in the study."
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Even then, it may be illegal to use life2vec for certain purposes under Danish privacy laws.
This might include in making hiring decisions or writing up an insurance policy.
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