Artificial Intelligence: Risks and Advantages in Medicine

Artificial intelligence has developed rapidly in recent years, and significant social and economic impacts are already being felt. Major companies such as Facebook and Amazon have been implicated in data collection scandals and machine automation raises fears no longer just about massive job losses, but also the emergence of other risks, such as potentially biased decisions by machines. 

This rapid and potentially invasive growth of AI raises many questions.

• Automation-spurred job loss.
• Privacy violations.
• 'Deepfakes'
• Algorithmic bias caused by bad data.
• Socioeconomic inequality.
• Market volatility.
• Weapons automatization

However, Artificial Intelligence is a powerful technology that promises to vastly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health-care delivery, and usher in the era of precision medicine, transforming our everyday lives. It is helping accelerate basic biomedical research, delivering insights into disease pathophysiology, and guiding new treatment discovery. It is optimizing clinical trials and translational research, bringing us closer to new treatments faster. 

At a time when the health-care system is under more strain than ever, AI promises to revolutionize health-care delivery by capitalizing on the totality of health-related data in order to optimize clinical decision-making for each individual and improve access to health-care for all. 

To deliver such promises, it is required to bring together basic and applied researchers, engineers, and clinicians to address the many outstanding challenges in a timely and responsible manner.  And here is a great reading on such interesting theme.