AI-powered Electronic Cigarette Could Become a Quit Smoking Device
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Could an AI help vapers wean off nicotine? A recent study at the University of East Anglia seeks to find the answer. The research, which Cancer Research UK is funding, aims to determine the connection between a person’s daily habits and nicotine intake by relying on an AI-powered device connected to their vapes.
The research hopes to find common trends that replicate each participant’s routines to find triggers that lead to nicotine use. Suppose a smoking pattern or patterns are identified. In that case, the researchers hope to stop these triggers from happening and prevent people who have taken up vaping from going back to cigarettes or quit nicotine for good.
Table of Contents
- What is Level?
- The Research
- What It Means for the Vaping Industry
- Conclusion
What is Level?
Perhaps the most exciting part of the research is using an AI called “Level,” which can learn to predict when the participant will crave his next nicotine hit.
This AI can help users maintain their current nicotine level or help them quit nicotine by slowly reducing the nicotine levels they intake daily.
The device developed by Norwegian company VaipIO is easy to use and simply screws to the tanks of electronic cigarettes. It uses a tri-color signaling system to warn users about going over their nicotine limit.
When the Level device turns green, it means it is nearing its nicotine level. When it turns blue, it means that it is on the nicotine level, and when it turns red, it has passed it.
The device also connects via a Bluetooth connection to an available app for both Apple and Android, where participants can log in if they have had a cigarette or other types of nicotine.
The AI can measure the power used for each draw, the time interval between puffs, and the number of puffs taken in a single day. One of the lead researchers of the study Dr. Emma Ward said this about the puff technology Level uses:
“The new technology we’re using is more reliable and sophisticated than the puff counters, which come integrated into many e-cigarettes, and works by precision measurement of the voltage applied to the atomizer through the duration of the puff. It records the puff topography to build a personalized profile of the user’s vaping patterns.”
The device, which is used alongside a daily survey, hopes to create a complete picture of other factors affecting daily nicotine usage, like daily stressors and mood changes.
The Research
The research, which will take place throughout 90-days, hopes to find commonalities between the reasons people switch to vaping or go back to cigarettes. During the study, the researchers have explicitly told participants not to alter their nicotine habits to see how mood, stress, alcohol consumption, and social support can affect their nicotine intake.
Dr. Felix Naughton, who is one of the two professors leading the study, said this about the project:
“We’re using a powerful scientific method to enable us to build a picture of each participant’s smoking and vaping behavior. This gives us a rare view into how these behaviors fluctuate over time and what psychological, social, and environmental factors influence this for each person.”
With this broader picture, the researchers behind the study hope to determine if participants share standard links and patterns that lead them to nicotine use or cause them to go back to cigarettes and use both vaping and tobacco at the same time.
What It Means for the Vaping Industry
The results of this study could be pivotal for policymakers and the future of the vaping industry. With Dr. Emma Ward stating that:
“Our findings will be important to help dual users reduce harm by stopping smoking and inform policy-decisions on how e-cigarettes can be promoted effectively to help people stop smoking and stay stopped,”
By learning what triggers vapers to go back to smoking, the vaping industry can better combat this behavior and become a more effective smoke cessation tool. And with a device like Level, vape legitimacy as a smoke cessation tool will only grow quicker.
Conclusion
If technology like Level finds its way into vapes worldwide, this study can find precise triggers making a person more likely to become a vaper. In the long term, they might quit their nicotine addiction—the future of vaping looks brighter than ever.
