AI: The Future of Healthcare Innovation

Gain a deeper understanding of Artificial Intelligence, its diverse applications, and its impacts on politics, jobs, entertainment, etc. From what I have been experiencing while I have been working at a healthcare company, I felt that I had to make today’s post about AI in healthcare.

Strategy:

I have continued to follow two magazines focusing on new developments in AI:

·       AI Magazine by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (https://aaai.org/ai-magazine/)

·       Communications of the ACM—Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (https://cacm.acm.org/category/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning/)

I have also followed these podcasts:

·       Network of the National Library of Medicine Discovery (https://www.nnlm.gov/podcast/the-future-of-ai-in-medicine-a-conversation)

·       Mind Matters (https://mindmatters.ai/podcast/)

Current Reaction:

Recently, I started my internship at a healthcare company called Centene Corporation which gave me a great insight into healthcare, so much so that it is always on my mind. As part of the orientation, I learned that Centene also utilizes AI in a lot of its modern healthcare solutions. This was very surprising to me, and I immediately started researching AI in healthcare. AI is making big changes in healthcare by helping doctors work more efficiently and interact more empathetically with patients. It can assist in reducing the time spent on paperwork and provide more personalized care solutions. For example, AI tools can help doctors better understand patient needs and respond more compassionately. These advancements are part of broader efforts to improve public health, including initiatives focused on women's health that aim to significantly boost the global economy​

In the podcast I was following, healthcare was not covered, so I found another reliable government resource to learn more about AI in healthcare.

Sources:

·       AI Magazine by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence articles, “Expanding impact of mobile health programs: SAHELI for maternal and child care”, “A survey of consumer health question answering systems”

·       NNLM Discovery, Episode: “The Future of AI in Medicine – A conversation with Dr. Sameer Antani”

Synopsis:

While AI is transforming fields like music, writing, and art, it also has the potential to bring positive changes to many sectors, including healthcare. This year has seen significant advancements in AI-driven healthcare solutions that promise to improve lives and outcomes. Research institutes have been developing innovative AI models for healthcare applications, highlighted in recent publications I have read from the AI Magazine by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. These advancements showcase how AI can revolutionize healthcare delivery, particularly through systems like "Saheli" in India, which improves maternal and child health by efficiently allocating health worker resources using an AI framework called Restless Multi-Armed Bandits (RMAB). This system has reached 130,000 people and aims to serve one million by the end of 2023, using automated voice messages and targeted live calls to optimize engagement and health outcomes. According to another publication, consumer health question answering (CHeQA) systems are enhancing how people access health information by providing direct, concise answers to queries, mimicking human professionals. These systems refine user questions and deliver relevant answers, reducing the need for extensive searches. Despite progress, challenges like ensuring empathy and improving interaction remain.

In the latest AI news, Nvidia, a leader in AI chip technology, is facing increased competition from China's Huawei. Huawei's latest AI chip, the Ascend 910B, is claimed to perform close to or even surpass Nvidia's A100 chip in some tests. This development comes amidst US restrictions on Nvidia selling advanced chips to China. Huawei has been building its own AI chip technology for several years and is gaining traction in the domestic Chinese market, posing a significant challenge to Nvidia within China.

Analysis:

I was inspired by Dr. Antani’s vision of the future, where AI systems work in harmony with human experts. He described a future where AI not only assists in diagnosis but also in preventive care by continuously monitoring patients and alerting clinicians to potential issues. He also talked about how machine learning and computer vision, these branches of AI, are turning medical imaging on its head. Now, these technologies can find hidden patterns in X-rays and MRIs that even the best doctors might miss. This early disease detection, especially for things like cancer and TB, could be a game-changer for catching illnesses before they get serious.

But it wasn't just about catching diseases earlier. The podcast also explained how AI can help doctors make better decisions. By crunching massive amounts of data, AI can give doctors new insights that improve patient care. He even talked about how AI could help areas that don't have enough doctors, by providing crucial diagnostic support. This could mean faster treatment and potentially saving lives. Of course, I realized that it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. He mentioned some ethical concerns about AI in healthcare too. Things like biases in the data AI is trained on, keeping patient information safe, and making sure it follows all the rules were all brought up as challenges that need to be solved.

Insight:

Even with those concerns, though, after my research was done, I came away from the podcast feeling hopeful. The future they described, where AI works side-by-side with doctors to revolutionize preventive care and diagnostics, sounds like something straight out of science fiction. It's amazing to think that this future might be within reach. Learning about AI in healthcare showed me how technology can make a big difference in people's lives, but it also made me think about the importance of using it responsibly and making sure everyone can benefit from it.