With the new additions of Chatgpt and Midjourney to the internet, artificial intelligence (AI), the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, is currently one of the most widely discussed topics in the world. As AI continues to gain widespread use and rapid development, the question arises: How will AI be integrated into healthcare today?
According to a case study by Medtronic titled “5 Ways Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Healthcare,” the use of AI in healthcare improves accuracy, promotes interventional insights, supports training and education, prioritizes patient care, and fosters equity in healthcare. Given artificial intelligence can be used to process large amounts of data quickly, its incorporation into the healthcare system would be revolutionary. In fact, AI is already being used by healthcare providers to manage the treatment of chronic diseases and increase the personalization of medicine. An annual study conducted by Optum found that AI integration in medical settings improved diagnosis and predicting outcomes by 40%, medical image interpretation by 36%, and virtual patient care by 41%.
Furthermore, huge strides have also been made in applications of AI systems to drug discovery. An Indian Journal of Dermatology article titled “Artificial Intelligence: How is It Changing Medical Sciences and Its Future” revealed that companies such as Verge Genomics are utilizing machine learning to “analyze human genomic data and identify drugs to combat neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ASL) in a cost-effective way.” Not only does AI aid in making medical settings more efficient, but it is also working to make our healthcare system more equitable.
From the digitalization of medical records to reducing the cost of life-saving treatments and drug trials, AI is advancing healthcare in unprecedented ways. Given the seemingly limitless potential of AI, this generation will likely witness the dissolution of healthcare’s biggest problems as we continue to harness the power of technology to enact enduring change across the globe.