Artificial intelligence against eating disorders, the first app is Italian

The artificial intelligence as an engine for the sustainable development of society with concrete and positive consequences even in increasingly suffering worlds, first of all healthcare. It is the shared message that comes from the Caduti di Nassirya room of the Senate launched by experts from the innovation galaxy and parliamentarians (from FdI to Pd) gathered for the launch of “mySMART Diary“, or digital food diary. It is a web app – the first at an international level – created by Foundation for Digital Sustainability to support psychologists, psychiatrists and child neuropsychiatrists to improve the condition of patients suffering from eating disorders (DCA).

The application – from tomorrow it will be active in the psychotherapy department of the psychiatric services of the Canton of Grisons (Switzerland) and in the Local Health Authority of Bologna – thus becomes the culmination of a virtuous path. An axis between public and private that politics also looks at with interest, where artificial intelligence places itself at the service of the community. In this case to support doctors who treat adolescents with food-related disorders. A pathology that has been on the rise in recent years and affects young people between 12 and 14 years of age at an increasingly early age. In Italy – these are data from the Ministry of Health – it is estimated that around 3 million people suffer from foodborne diseases. In 2023, 3,780 deaths related to this pathology were recorded the second leading cause of death among young people immediately after road accidents.

The first function offered by the web app is precisely that of creating a sort of ‘digital food diary’. The patient can in fact use their smartphone to note down their behavior regarding food, highlighting what the triggering emotion was (a quarrel, an internal conflict). The type of eating behavior, the triggering event and the emotion felt create a “trigger” that activates the Artificial Intelligence. The latter suggests the user read a specific story, selected based on the information provided previously, taken from fairy tales or episodes of television series on the topic. The AI ​​then invites the user to grasp the main meaning of the story and, subsequently, to identify with the characters and reflect on what he would have done in their place.

Through this dialogue, Artificial Intelligence develops an understanding of the narrative learned by the patient and manages to develop a “mentalisation” profile, i.e. the person’s ability to understand their own thoughts and emotions, as well as the intentions of the people they interact with. The profile of “mentalization” it is then made available and displayed on the therapist’s dashboard, who can thus compare it with his clinical impressions and assessments, thus facilitating his work. This is how a relationship (between patient and doctor) is established and revived, even at a distance. “We are convinced that to develop such a project – he explains to AGI Stefano Epifani president of the Foundation for digital sustainability – a path of collaboration between the various social actors is needed: universities, companies, the world of research and politics. If today a path to relaunching the social value of technology as a tool to support people is not based on politics, we are working with one hand tied behind our back.”

Politics – it emerged from the conference – is ready to reach out to the world of innovation. “It is an important initiative – he underlines to AGI, Ignazio ZulloFdI group leader in the Social Affairs commission at Palazzo Madama – because when we talk about artificial intelligence we are in doubt whether it will bring benefits or whether it will be used for something opportunistic or even malicious. This app points us towards the need for predictive medicine. When politics is not made up of bickering or sterile opposition but is made up of meeting and discussion, we move forward more quickly. Giorgia Meloni – finally recalls the FdI parliamentarian – was the first to take this issue into her own hands, we saw it at the G7 in Puglia giving the sense of a humanisation of AI which is not just technology but also supports man”.

“Here we have the world of innovation – he observes in conversation with AGI, Simona Malpezzi, senator of the Democratic Party and vice-president of the bicameral commission on Childhood and Adolescence – who has put himself at the service of healthcare to lend a hand in tackling a very serious problem which is that of eating disorders which today represent the second cause of death for our adolescents, therefore , a very strong intervention is needed. The fact that these united worlds have made the appeal to politics to listen to them to ensure that this project overcomes some problems in the grounding I think is a good step. When you triangulate you are never wrong.” Malpezzi then explains that “there are parliamentary bills that aim to encourage attention to eating disorders. We are faced with the issue of lack of resources, on which we must all examine our consciences, then there are no general guidelines for all the Regions. Finally, there is the issue of regulations starting from Europe: if you use digital at an advanced stage there are immediate blocks due to unclear regulations. I think that these are the three factors on which politics can provide answers.”

The “mySMART Diary” web app was created in collaboration with Microsoft Italia which made the Artificial Intelligence platform available and with Almawave which developed the application, the conversational interfaces it created on its platform, and the analysis dashboard. The project was also made possible thanks to the contribution of Deda.Next, DXC Technology Italia, R1 Group and Sopra Steria, partners of the General States of Digital Sustainability, an initiative of the Foundation for Digital Sustainability which supports the CIOs of large public companies and private companies in understanding how digital transformation can support sustainability.