Artificial Intelligence and Socioeconomic Impacts of Pandemic: Key Roles and Potentials

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to explore the latest publications on an AI application and present a systematic review of its impact in diverse sectors, particularly in mitigating COVID-19. Even though the relevance of AI in mitigating the COVID-19 outbreak has gained much attention among researchers, one of the fundamental concerns that needs to be addressed is whether the public’s understanding of AI’s relevance will endure and strengthen in order to combat future pandemics. In the case of a developing nation, like Malaysia, what is the level of AI intervention and how compatible it is in handling the current scenario and future epidemics? Finding answers for these questions is crucial, as it would push Malaysia into great efforts towards massive and effective use of digital technology, particularly AI adoption, that will eventually help the country to achieve the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. In this regard, this paper aims to cover specifically the digital and AI transformation in Malaysia, followed by the relevance of AI in mitigating the socio-economic impacts of pandemics and future epidemics. METHODOLOGY: This paper is primarily a review paper, used a systematic literature review and content analysis approach to find the role of AI application and tools in diverse sectors, including its breakthrough during the recent pandemic. This study conducted a comprehensive search across multiple databases using keywords such as artificial intelligence, digital transformation, COVID-19, pandemic and impacts. FINDINGS: Based on a comprehensive review process, this paper integrates various scopes of AI’s roles and relevance, from various perspectives to a narrow scope of pandemic and future epidemic perspective. Upon highlighting the continuous efforts for technological and digital transformation as well as the emerging state of AI in Malaysia, this paper emphasises the relevance of AI in mitigating the socio-economic impacts of pandemics in the context of healthcare, employment and income, and education. The final part covers a brief description of the core challenges concerning technology adoption in general and in expediting AI for future states in Malaysia. ORIGINALITY: This paper presents an overview of AI’s roles and relevance in various aspects and contexts. Despite a wide range of previous reviews on the role of AI in mitigating the spread of COVID-19, this study focuses on how AI mitigates the socio-economic impacts, by integrating the emerging trends and potentials of AI. IMPLICATIONS: The impact of the previous economic crises and the recent pandemic have clearly shown the gaps and potentials for Malaysia to move forward and gain momentum to achieve a balanced economic growth. Technological advancement with AI innovations is indeed an essential requirement for Malaysia to have such economic growth. Therefore, the significance of this study is in portraying the relevance of AI in tackling the impact of pandemics in a socio-economic context. It may contribute ideas for future research to be done empirically

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Energy Sector and the Role of AI: An Analytical Review on Pre- to Post-Pandemic Perspectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global energy markets and caused significant socio-economic impacts worldwide, including the energy sector due to lockdowns and restricted economic activity. This paper presents a comprehensive and analytical review of the impact of COVID-19 on the energy sector and explores the potential role of artificial intelligence (AI) in mitigating its effects. This review examines the changes in energy demand patterns during the pre-, mid-, and post-pandemic periods, analyzing their implications for the energy industries, including policymaking, communication, digital technology, energy conversion, the environment, energy markets, and power systems. Additionally, we explore how AI can enhance energy efficiency, optimize energy use, and reduce energy wastage. The potential of AI in developing sustainable energy systems is discussed, along with the challenges it poses in the energy sector’s response to the pandemic. The recommendations for AI applications in the energy sector for the transition to a more sustainable energy future, with examples drawn from previous successful studies, are outlined. Information corroborated in this review is expected to provide important guidelines for crafting future research areas and directions in preparing the energy sector for any unforeseen circumstances or pandemic-like situations

Prerequisite for COVID-19 Prediction: A Review on Factors Affecting the Infection Rate

Since the year 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as the dominant topic of discussion in the public and research domains. Intensive research has been carried out on several aspects of COVID-19, including vaccines, its transmission mechanism, detection of COVID-19 infection, and its infection rate and factors. The awareness of the public related to the COVID-19 infection factors enables the public to adhere to the standard operating procedures, while a full elucidation on the correlation of different factors to the infection rate facilitates effective measures to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection by policy makers and enforcers. Hence, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive and analytical review of different factors affecting the COVID-19 infection rate. Furthermore, this review analyses factors which directly and indirectly affect the COVID-19 infection risk, such as physical distance, ventilation, face masks, meteorological factor, socioeconomic factor, vaccination, host factor, SARS-CoV-2 variants, and the availability of COVID-19 testing. Critical analysis was performed for the different factors by providing quantitative and qualitative studies. Lastly, the challenges of correlating each infection risk factor to the predicted risk of COVID-19 infection are discussed, and recommendations for further research works and interventions are outlined