The Wall Street Journal revealed, Tuesday, that Apple is developing technology that helps diagnose depression and cognitive decline.
The newspaper quoted people familiar with the matter and documents that it said it had seen, that researchers are working to create this new feature, using a set of sensor data that includes navigation, physical activity, sleep patterns, writing behavior, facial expressions, and other things.
According to the sources, Apple hopes to add this feature so that it is unique and distinguishes its devices.
She added that Apple is trying to develop this tool in cooperation with "UCLA" and the pharmaceutical company "Byogen", after research partnerships with the University of California, which studies stress, anxiety and depression.
This summer, the company "Biogen" obtained the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration for a new drug it developed to treat mild cognitive impairment, a health condition that may progress to Alzheimer's disease.
The three companies declined to comment on the matter, according to the newspaper.
The sources told the newspaper that research projects are still in their early stages, and may not eventually lead to new features of the device, while previous academic studies showed some evidence that people with certain mental health conditions use their digital devices differently than others, “remaining To see if reliable algorithms can be created to detect cases," according to the researchers.
If this tool is successful, Apple and its partners could better detect conditions affecting tens of millions of people around the world. But the extent of user tracking that might be required could raise privacy concerns.
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