Artificial intelligence makes its way into the healthcare arena despite patient hesitation.
There is no doubt that artificial intelligence is here to stay. The AI revolution is only just beginning, to be sure, and these technologies will gradually be used in more and more ways moving forward. But is AI ready to play a significant role in healthcare? The stakes are high when decisions are being made about the care of humans with various health conditions, so there is no room for learning on the job in this case. It seems certain that AI will play a notable role in healthcare in the coming years, but what that role looks like and how quickly it develops is yet to be seen.
One of the first hurdles that needs to be cleared is the hesitancy of patients to be treated in part by AI. Research has shown that a majority of people are not comfortable with this idea at the moment, although that is sure to change moving forward. It will be important for the healthcare industry to demonstrate to patients exactly why AI should be used in their care, what it can do for them, and how it leads to better results.
For many people, especially those outside of the healthcare industry, it’s hard to imagine what exactly AI is capable of doing in this space. While it doesn’t replace doctors or the efforts of many other humans, there are already some notable ways in which this technology can make an impact.
As a starting point, artificial intelligence is already capable of arriving at diagnoses using a variety of existing algorithms. Making an accurate diagnosis is a critical part of healthcare, as the diagnosis that is given will chart the treatment course moving forward. Thanks to the massive amounts of data that AI can take in and analyze, it can consider many variables and help doctors reach accurate diagnoses with incredible consistency.
Artificial intelligence can also manage simpler tasks like making medical forms and information easier for patients to understand. It is sometimes difficult for people to understand the information they are being presented in a clinic or hospital, so using AI to effectively “translate” some of that info is a worthwhile application. Essentially, this technology can word documents in a way that there is much less confusion.
It’s simply impossible to know for certain how healthcare will be impacted over the long run by artificial intelligence. No one knows precisely where this technology is going, so it’s hard to say what it will be capable of doing well in just a few months, let alone a few years. Will it be able to develop new drugs effectively and faster than ever before? Could it help to identify risk factors that make certain patients more vulnerable in a given situation than others? The sky is the limit. In addition to the growing abilities of AI over time, there is also likely to be growing confidence on the side of patients as people get more and more comfortable with what AI can do in the world.
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