Technology progresses so fast nowadays it’s hard to keep track. Sometimes it’s even hard to distinguish science fiction from reality. Many of the things we’re used to seeing only in Sci-Fi movies on our TV screen are now becoming a reality. One of the main factors technology is changing is employment and automation of jobs in different industries. Different jobs in different industries have different rates of automatability.
When it comes to the medical professions, the rate of automatability sits comfortably at 0.4. That means doctors and surgeons have a chance of 0.4% of being replaced by automation in the future. However, this is not to say that technological progress doesn’t affect the medical professions.
Performing heart surgeries, giving diagnosis etc. must have a certain percent of empathy for them. And that’s what makes the human factor in medicine crucial. Now let’s take a look at some ways AI will shape the future of medicine.
1. AI will catch mistakes
Even though the human factor is crucial, AI’s place is right there beside the human factor as a partner. The human mind is prone to stress and other psychological factors that might contribute a higher rate of error due to these factors, whereas an AI equipped machine or computer will observe from a stress-free perspective making it capable of catching mistakes faster and with a greater rate of effectiveness than the human.
An AI also has a much deeper level and capacity for storing knowledge, and maybe more importantly instant access to it whenever it’s needed. So at any time, the AI can simply comb through pages of medical data while performing another task such as assisting the surgeon at the operating table.
2. They will help detect diseases
Even though a single machine by itself is powerful enough, AI’s connected to a network can do amazing things. Such a thing is detecting and treating underlying diseases and conditions which may be affecting different areas of an individual’s health.
Connected together they can see where one person went wrong and work upon that knowledge and analysis as a baseline. This will also decrease the possibilities of an error in diagnosis because networked AI’s have much more insight than a single one.
3.Assisting in surgery
As stated previously AI will have a very important role to play when it comes to assisting the surgeon during surgeries. The biggest benefit from AI’s at the operating table is that they can provide the surgeon with real-time information by overlaying digital cues and images atop real ones when paired with augmented reality.
These are just some of the ways AI is going to assist medicine in the near future. All in all, the future is looking bright for medicine and AI.
