It can spot cancer, answer medical questions and help develop drugs. But we don’t trust artificial intelligence to be our primary doctor just yet.
A masked robot next to an MRI machine. (Photo illustration by News Decoder)
You’re lying in a hospital bed about to enter surgery. The catch? It’s not a doctor performing your surgery, it’s a robot.
While that’s not the reality we live in yet, artificial intelligence is already playing an important role in the health sector, and has been since the 1970s. The development of medical AI has only grown since then and is now providing doctors with numerous medical benefits, including the ability to spot cancer.
But like with all technology, there is always room for error.
The first AI medical computer system was developed at Stanford University in 1973, according to the National Library of Medicine. It is now being used in the medical field in a number of ways, ranging from drug development and disease diagnostics to surgical treatments.
In the Netherlands for example, AI is helping radiologists improve diagnostics for the treatment of lung cancer and in Singapore, “bot assistants” are being used to address clinical inquiries, convert spoken case notes into written form and autonomously organize images and documents.
Bot assistants and x-ray readers
One of the most common places to see AI in the medical industry is in the field of radiology, a branch of medicine that uses imaging technology to diagnose and treat disease.
“When a radiologist has all of these images to read, they can kind of get a pre-screening preliminary report done by the AI,” said Megan Bybee, assistant professor of clinical radiologic and imaging sciences at Indiana University. “AI can highlight things like lesions on medical images and x-rays to draw attention to the radiologist and say, ‘Is this normal?’”
AI has proven to be a useful tool for radiologists who need a faster method for looking over numerous medical images and x-rays. With the advanced technology of AI, certain abnormalities can be pointed out to a radiologist in a speedier time frame.
Another medical field where AI is being used is in mammography, the process that uses x-rays to examine breasts for diagnosis and screening.
“Studies have shown that the AI reads were very comparable to humans in the ability to detect early breast cancer on screening mammograms,” Bybee said.
Readings done by the AI allow medical professionals to analyze the given results and determine a course of action.
Still not as smart as doctors?
But AI isn’t perfect. What would happen to a patient if the technology was to incorrectly identify an abnormality or misread an x-ray?
Tess Barg, a student at Penn State University, feels wary of AI being relied upon in the medical field.
“AI is making its way into every industry and it’s an important part of future development, but there is always room for error,” Barg said. “Especially in the medical field when you are dealing with human beings, medical professionals shouldn’t just be relying on AI. There should always be someone checking the results over.”
A 2023 study by the Radiological Society of North America showed that radiologists actually surpass AI when it comes to pointing out lung diseases in chest x-rays.
More development might be needed for medical AI to become more reliable and before it is solely relied on for medical results and diagnostics.
“AI needs a huge sample size to get more accurate,” Bybee said. “No one is saying AI is replacing a radiologist. What they are saying is that AI can be used for efficiency.”
QUESTIONS to consider:
- Why might it be beneficial to have robots do some medical tasks instead of doctors?
- What concerns are there in giving responsibility to artifical intelligence?
- Would you want your doctor to use AI to diagnose you when you go in for a checkup? Why?
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