Will AI eventually replace doctors?

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic right now because of the potential job replacements it could bring about. Will artificial intelligence replace your doctor?

Fortunately, not in our lifetime! And the good news is that, if we are careful about how technology is developed and used, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to enhance your doctor's decision and, consequently, to improve your health.

AI is a mathematical technique that attempts to interpret vast volumes of data. Therefore, it requires two things: the ability to quickly conduct mathematical operations as well as a sizable volume of information stored electronically, including text, numbers, and images.

  

When computers and AI were originally created in the 1950s, some futurists speculated about how they might enhance decision-making regarding diagnosis and treatment. However, back then, computers were far from quick enough to perform the necessary computations. What's more, hardly any of the data the computers would need to examine was kept in an electronic format. It was all written down. Doctors would note their observations of a patient's symptoms and physical exam on paper, sometimes in illegible handwriting. On paper, test results were printed and placed onto a patient's paper medical file. With advancements in computer technology, doctors and other healthcare workers began to be relieved of some laborious chores, such as assisting in the analysis of pictures such as electrocardiograms (ECGs), blood samples, x-rays, and Pap smears.

In comparison to when they were initially created, computers are practically millions of times more powerful now. More significantly, a vast amount of medical data is now available in electronic form, including the medical histories of millions of patients, research findings, and our expanding understanding of how the human body functions. This makes the application of AI in medicine possible.

AI and computers have already achieved significant advancements in medical research, such as predicting the form of the majority of human proteins. I anticipate that in the future, computers and artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to listen to doctor-patient conversations and then suggest tests or treatments the doctor should consider, highlight potential diagnoses based on a patient's symptoms after comparing those symptoms to those of millions of other people who have various diseases, and draft a note for the medical record so the doctor can spend more time with the patient rather than spending time at a computer keyboard.

The development of new AI tools for medicine won't happen overnight or without errors; therefore, doctors and computer scientists will need to closely monitor the process. The "help" AI offers doctors will be disregarded if it turns out to be unreliable or insufficient. Then, if AI does not improve quickly, it will lose credibility. Powerful technologies have the potential to be both positive and negative forces.