Perhaps one of the most prominent examples of this is IBM's Watson - and particularly the Oncology diagnostics. IBM Watson makes recommendations that have a 90% concordance rate with the tumor board recommendations (See their full Oncology section here). This means that rather than waiting for another human doctor to spend time reading images and then getting back to the original doctor in order to corroborate ideas, the original doctor can rely on Watson to achieve the same goals but much much quicker. This efficiency is extremely important in a field like Oncology, because the earlier treatment starts, the better odds patients have at full recoveries. Watson uses a lot of similar techniques that we have been learning about to analyze different types of data or apply its A.I. to areas beyond Oncology specifically. From advanced natural language processing to machine learning in order to most successfully grow and achieve whatever its given goals are by IBM.
A second major example of A.I. influencing the world of medicine is the DeepMind research based in the UK. DeepMind focuses on A.I. that can learn to interpret test results based off of previous similar results and recommend a treatment plan or diagnosis through this learning. Probably the most obvious benefit of this is again the speed at which an A.I. will be able to return results to patients or the primary doctor versus waiting on multiple doctors to all agree on something. Speed at which treatment starts in medicine is arguably the most important part of the field, so using A.I. to greatly improve speed will be a huge leap forward in the quality of care for most patients. See more about DeepMind's own goals here
I wanted to talk a bit about medical advancements within A.I. because it is a pretty similar topic to the transhumanism debate question (or at least moving in that direction), because I think one could easily see this moving away from even needing to go to a hospital to receive a diagnosis and instead having some kind of device on you or attached to you that would immediately alert you to some sort of negative change to your bodily health. I think this is a pretty interesting concept that could really positively influence the world of medicine so I'm curious what you all have to say about it.
Here is a quick video of the cancer center heavily involved in trying to utilize IBM's Watson:
I think the idea of improving health care with technology is fundamentally good. I also have a few concerns. First of all, we need to be aware of any biases we might be programming into the new tech and how these might affect results, such as under-reporting certain diseases because we taught them to search for those later or interpret ambiguity one way over another. Doctors, for example, are known to misdiagnose patients' weight as the problem and ignore other problems. (https://www.self.com/story/rhony-star-jill-zarin-loses-husband-bobby-to-thyroid-cancer contains largely personal experiences but is quite relevant for examples of fat phobia in the medical field.) I see using AI as a way to potentially remove some of the faults that humans bring to the table, but we have to be sure we don't teach them to have these same faults.
ReplyDeleteI also have some privacy concerns. I would love something to let me know when something is wrong with my body. But I would also like that information to be private between me and the particular hospital or whatever that's trying to support my health. There could be issues if someone has an embarrassing illness, for example, or if a public figure needs medical attention because of drug use, and this information gets out. It could also be problematic if insurance companies gain access to these devices' information (or if they are the ones providing them in the first place).
Finally, I worry about the accessibility of new technology. As it is, we do not in our society have equal access to health care - if you have more money you can afford more expensive (possibly better) treatment. I worry about the social implications of first phasing in this technology when it may only be available to the most wealthy. I personally don't believe that having more money merits living longer, but implementing this type of technology may further that phenomenon.
I see these as a potential remedy to our unequal access to medicine. Machines don't need to be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars like human doctors do, and they can be mass produced. Rich people would likely still pay to have a real doctor, but people who currently can't afford care would jump at the chance to have an AI. As for privacy and biased diagnosis, I don't think there would really be any change compared to now.
DeleteJust simply having all this exponential amount of medical data at one's fingertips is mind-blowing enough, but now to have an AI that can do all but the surgery for doctors really puts us a great leap ahead in the medical field (especially in america). With wait times going down and increasing numbers of cases being solved correctly over time, I think this technology will be one of the most valuable of the 21st century, if for no other reason that the contribution to the sheer efficiency of life-saving operations around the globe.
ReplyDeleteArtificial intelligence in medicine would be a great innovation. Healthcare is so expensive and many people are unable to afford it, or receive treatment when they need it. Artificial intelligence might not be as compassionate or as great as a real doctor, but it would be a good alternative when someone is pressed on time or money.
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