“Clinicians are already using AI. Pandita, M.D., said. “EMR could be presenting a lot of AI-driven clinical support tools behind the scenes. They have machine learning algorithms at work all the time.”
Pandita presented a scientific session, “Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning: Practical Applications in Medicine,” at the ACP conference in San Diego this week.
Given the sheer amount of responsibilities healthcare providers have, including remembering patient information, paperwork, and increased workloads at their facility, Pandita believes it has the potential to alleviate the need to remember everything. . “AI can help reduce cognitive load.”
The concern, Pandita said, is whether the AI is set up to deal with individual patients. “The problem is we don’t know if these AI algorithms are configured in a way that is truly safe for patient populations and how to build trust in them.”
As with all evolving technology, it remains to be seen what the intended and unintended consequences will be, but Pandita is confident that human doctors and other providers will never be replaced. I think the human brain has surpassed everything AI can do.”
She sees it as an artificial augmentation rather than artificial intelligence. “You are extending what the human brain can do and adding artificial intelligence to it…think of it as a helper in the clinical setting.”
She uses examples of how AI, especially chatbots, can help write notes and perhaps make patient interactions appear more empathetic. A new study showed At JAMA Internal Medicine, This showed that in social media forums where patient questions were posted, chatbot responses were preferred over physician responses.
contagion spoke to Panditya about some of the ideas for the future of this new technology, including writing scientific papers, and the need to build trust with the increasingly ubiquitous AI.
