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AI In Medicine
- FMPW Bloggers
- Feb 6, 2023
- 6 min read
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been taking the world by storm for the past few years. Lately, AI has gotten more and more advanced. People have been using AI for many different fields, health and medicine included! Before we get into that, let’s delve into some background first.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence is human intelligence simulated by machines. More specifically, computer systems. The purpose of AI is to learn from human experiences and perform many different tasks. AI has been developing all around us for many years now. For instance, you may have heard of the development of self-driving cars or maybe even bots that have been designed to play chess. All of these are different examples of AI and it is still evolving all around us.
Recent breakthroughs in AI
Lately, AI has blown-up and many people have been using it to do many different things. For instance, perhaps you have heard of Dall-E Mini. This is a website where you can input a simple prompt and AI will generate a drawing based on that prompt for you! Sounds fascinating, right? In the beginning, however, Dall-E Mini and many other similar apps have been made fun of online by numerous people making videos and memes since AI did such a bad job making the image. However, with new tweaks and updates, the images generated by AI are beyond outstanding.
Additionally, another example of AI is TalktoTransformer. This is a website where you can write a story and AI will add on to the story for you. As of now, while it does not do anything entirely outstanding, it is impressive as it will add relevant or interesting ideas to your story!
Another interesting example of AI that has been around for quite a long time is Cleverbot Evie. Evie is an AI who you can have a conversation with. A few years ago, a conversation with Evie was rather strange as she often seemed to get off topic and say some very strange things. Now, her AI seems to have proved dramatically and you might be able to have an interesting conversation with her!
ChatGPT
Lately, a new AI program has blown up. This program is called ChatGPT. While the programs mentioned before only have a singular purpose, ChatGPT is revolutionary in that it can be used for practically anything. This program pulls information from Wikipedia, books, online articles, and other sources to give information. Lately, many students have been using it to write school or college essays. Others also ask ChatGPT to give them practice problems for certain subjects, whether it’s English, math, or even physics. Along with giving these practice problems, the program also gives a detailed explanation to answer these problems. Now, for those who may not have heard of this program, you may think that there may be many inaccuracies in the program’s AI since it is so multifunctional. However, for the most part, that is not the case! Essays generated by ChatGPT have been surprisingly high quality. Additionally, practice problems made by this program have also been helpful for many students. Though there are times that ChatGPT has generated some inaccuracies, the program has blown up nonetheless.
ChatGPT and Medicine
Now that we have learned more about artificial intelligence, let’s talk more about their role in medicine. Many people have been using ChatGPT in the medical field for numerous reasons.
Firstly, many medical students have been using the program to help them with their studies. For instance, some students have been asking the program to create unique mnemonic devices that may help them remember certain pieces of information. Others have simply asked the program to explain something “like I’m a 10th grader.” As a result, many students were able to learn and study a lot from this program.
However, ChatGPT is not just beneficial for students. Some physicians have used the program to simulate a patient. The program would be asked many questions that normally are asked to a typical patient. The AI’s responsive design allows it to also provide medical history, lab results, and other findings as well.
ChatGPT has also proved to be useful in aiding healthcare workers to save time on nonclinical tasks. ChatGPT’s dataset allows it to identify medical procedures and services to bill procedures that physicians normally have to provide. However, after some testing, this code set is not entirely accurate. While the program successfully gave the correct code for Covid vaccines, it gave inaccurate ones for amniocentesis. Furthermore, ChatGPT was also helpful in writing letters to advocate for patients’ requirements for insurance authorization. These uses of this program allow physicians to save a massive amount of time. While still not entirely perfect, it is nonetheless a drastic change in the healthcare industry.
ChatGPT has also been influential in clinical applications as well. It proved to be successful in documenting information, generating medical charts and notes, along with instructions for discharging patients. An emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston named Jeremy Faust tested ChatGPT. He requested a chart for a fake patient with a cough. He claimed that the results were “eerily good.” As a result ChatGPT may be used to help diagnose patients, determine treatments and courses of action, and more.
Flaws of ChatGPT
Despite all of these amazing contributions made by ChatGPT in medicine, there are still some major flaws in its system. For instance, one of the most important issues in the program is that it can generate false or inaccurate information. Oftentimes, the program can do a good job diagnosing patients with certain diseases or conditions, however, ChatGPT pulls the information from a nonexistent source. However, it should be obvious if ChatGPT provides false information, right? Wrong. Scientists have had difficulty differentiating whenever the program is using real research or fake information. As a result, the risk for misinformation for patients and students is incredibly high.
Furthermore, another major flaw in ChatGPT is their potential bias along with discrimination. You might be wondering, how can AI be discriminatory? Well, once a user asked the program what would make someone a good scientist based on their race and gender. The program responded saying how a white male is defined as a good scientist. This bias in the program can be extremely problematic as it can perpetuate greater discrimination in the medical field.
Other ways AI is used in medicine
Other than ChatGPT, AI is revolutionizing the healthcare industry by providing new opportunities for diagnosis, treatment, and patient care.
Here are a few ways AI is being used in medicine:
Drug development: AI can assist in the discovery and development of new drugs by analyzing vast amounts of data from clinical trials, genetic data, and other sources to identify promising new treatments.
Predictive Analytics: AI algorithms are used to analyze patient data and make predictions about their future health. For example, AI can be used to predict which patients are at high risk of developing certain diseases or conditions, and help healthcare providers take preventive measures.
Personalized Medicine: AI can be used to create personalized treatment plans for patients based on their health data, lifestyle, and genetics. This approach can help improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
Clinical Decision Support: AI algorithms can help healthcare providers make informed decisions by analyzing large amounts of medical data and presenting relevant information in real time. This can help healthcare providers make faster, more accurate decisions and improve patient outcomes.
Telehealth: Telehealth is when patients are examined by specialists remotely. A telehealth technician uses peripheral devices, such as an exam camera and video otoscope, during the exam. A benefit of telehealth is that patients do not have to travel to a distant specialty clinic but can visit a telehealth technician instead. Additionally, patients with limited mobility can see specialists without as much trouble.
What’s next for AI?
Generally speaking, AI has been continuing to evolve all around us. People are continuing to program AI to be stronger and smarter every single day.
In the medical field specifically, many AI tools have been released and used more often. For instance, some AI tools are used to aid with clinical decisions to help predict diseases and summarize radiology reports.
Overall, AI has the potential to transform the healthcare industry by providing new opportunities for diagnosis, treatment, and patient care. However, it is important to ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly to protect patient privacy and safety.
Work Cited:
Introduction to Health Science Textbook
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