AI on par with Doctors
Bottom Line: The time was bound to come sooner than later, when AI would be considered a palatable replacement for the knowledge of many people. I’m not sure how many thought we’d be talking about doctors at the onset however. But we are.
Already supercomputers like, IBM’s Watson, have been aiding medical professionals. Most impressively, Watson’s software can take doctor input and calculate odds and outcomes based on all documented cases that are relevant to a patient. In the case of a just released study by the University of Birmingham, England, 20,000 patient cases were evaluated for successful diagnosis by doctors and AI. The results were...
- 87% accurate for AI
- 86% for doctors
The researchers said that the technology isn’t at the point where it’s completely reliable on its own and that the goal isn’t to head in that direction for the foreseeable. Instead the goal is for faster diagnosis and treatment to ease the burden of over-taxed health systems and doctor shortages.