Advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence in medicine - Faculdade de Computação e Informática (2023)

No matter the industry, artificial intelligence (AI) has become commonplace. When it comes to medicine, AI helps healthcare professionals streamline tasks, improve operational efficiency and simplify complex procedures. Big tech companies are investing more funds in AI innovations in healthcare. For example,Microsoft announces $40 million five-year programin 2020 to address health challenges. While AI is undoubtedly changing the healthcare industry, this technology is still relatively new. As the adoption of AI expands in the healthcare sector, questions about the advantages and limitations of this technology become more and more pertinent.

How does AI help in health?

1. Provides real-time data

A critical component of diagnosing and treating medical conditions is acquiring accurate information in a timely manner. With AI, physicians and other medical professionals can leverage immediate and accurate data to simplify and streamline critical clinical decision-making. Generating faster, more realistic results can lead to better preventive measures, cost savings and patient waiting times.

real-time analysisIt can help improve doctor-patient relationships. Making vital patient data available via mobile devices can engage patients in their treatments. Mobile alerts can inform doctors and nurses about urgent changes in patient status and emergencies.

Drexel University Professor of Information SciencesChristopher C. Yang, PhD, says, "As AI technology becomes more advanced, more data can be collected than traditional medical institutions could accumulate."

2. Simplify tasks

artificial intelligence in medicineit has already changed health practices everywhere. Innovations include scheduling appointments, translating clinical details and tracking patient records. AI is enabling healthcare facilities to simplify the most tedious and painstaking tasks. For example, smart radiology technology can identify meaningful visual markers, saving hours of intensive analysis. There are other automated systems to automate appointment scheduling, patient tracking, and care recommendations.

A specific task optimized with AIis checking the insurance. AI is used to minimize costs resulting from insurance claim denials. With AI, healthcare providers can identify and resolve erroneous claims before insurers deny payment for them. Not only does this streamline the claims process, but the AI ​​saves hospital staff time needed to process the denial and resubmit the claim.

By enabling faster payments and more accurate claims, hospitals can have more confidence in reimbursement schedules, making them more willing to accept a greater number of insurance plans. Basically, AI allows hospitals to accept a wide range of plans, which benefits potential and existing patients.

3. Save time and resources

As more vital processes become automated, medical professionals have more time to assess patients and diagnose illnesses and conditions. AI is accelerating operations to save valuable productivity hours for medical facilities. In any industry, time is money, so AI has the potential to save considerable costs.

It is estimated that around US$200 billion is wasted annually in the healthcare industry. Much of this unnecessary cost is attributed to administrative efforts such as filing, reviewing, and resolving accounts. Another area for improvement is the determination of medical need. Traditionally, hours of reviewing patient history and information are required to properly assess medical need.New Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Deep Learning (DL)algorithms can help doctors review hospital cases and avoid denials.

By freeing up hours and vital productivity resources, medical professionals have more time to help and interact with patients.

4. Research assistance

AI allows researchers to accumulate large amounts of data from multiple sources. The ability to tap into a rich and growing body of information allows for more effective analysis of deadly diseases. Regarding real-time data, research can benefit from the large amount of information available, as long as it is easy to translate.

Medical research organizations such as theChildhood Cancer Data Laboratorythey are developing useful software for clinicians to better navigate vast collections of data. AI has also been used to assess and detect symptoms earlier in the progression of a disease.telehealth solutionsthey are being deployed to track patient progress, retrieve vital diagnostic data, and contribute population information to shared networks.

5. It can reduce the doctor's stress

Somelatest searchreports that more than half of primary care physicians feel stressed by deadline pressures and other work conditions. AI helps streamline procedures, automate functions, instantly share data and organize operations, which helps relieve medical professionals from juggling many tasks.

Yang explains, “The biggest contributor to medical burnout is the patient load and the nature of the profession. However, as AI can help with more time-consuming operations, explaining diagnoses, for example, medical professionals may experience some stress relief.”

Limits of AI in Medicine

1. Need human surveillance

While AI has come a long way in the medical world,human surveillanceit is still essential. For example, surgical robots operate logically rather than empathetically. Healthcare professionals can jot down vital behavioral observations that can help diagnose or prevent medical complications.

“AI has been around for a few decades and continues to mature. As this field advances, there is more interaction between healthcare professionals and technology experts,” explains Yang. AI requires human input and review to be leveraged effectively.

As AI develops, the fields of technology and medicine are communicating more and more to improve technology. Yang adds, “Years of education are required for medical professionals to operate in their fields. Essential information collected from subject matter experts (SMEs) enriches the available data and enhances Explainable AI (XAI) to provide healthcare professionals with valuable and reliable information.”

2. You can ignore social variables

The patient's needs often extend beyond immediate physical conditions. Social, economic, and historical factors can influence appropriate recommendations for individual patients. For example, an AI system might assign a patient to a particular care facility based on a specific diagnosis. However, this system may not take into account the patient's financial constraints or other personalized preferences.

Privacy also becomes an issue when incorporating an AI system. Brands like Amazon have free rein when it comes to collecting and leveraging data. Hospitals, on the other hand, may face some setbacks when trying to funnel data from Apple's mobile devices, for example. These regulatory and societal constraints could limit AI's ability to facilitate medical practices.

3. It can lead to unemployment

While AI can help reduce costs and relieve pressure on the physician, it can also make some jobs redundant. This variable can result in the displacement of professionals who invested time and money in health education, presenting equity challenges.

A 2018 World Economic Forum report projected that AI would create 58 million net jobs by 2022. However, that same study concludes that 75 million jobs will be displaced or destroyed by AI at the same time. The main reason for this elimination of job opportunities is that, as AI is more embedded in different industries, roles that involve repetitive tasks will become redundant.

While AI promises to improve many aspects of health and medicine, it is vital to consider the societal ramifications of integrating this technology.

4. Inaccuracies are still possible

Medical AI relies heavily on available diagnostic data from millions of cataloged cases. In cases where there is little data on certain diseases, demographics or environmental factors, an incorrect diagnosis is entirely possible. This factor becomes especially important when a particular drug is prescribed.

Commenting on this data gap, Yang says, “No matter the system, there is always one piece of data missing. In the case of prescriptions, some information about certain populations and reactions to treatments may be missing. This occurrence can lead to problems with the diagnosis and treatment of patients belonging to certain demographic groups.”

AI is constantly evolving and improving to make up for data gaps. However, it is important to note that specific populations may still be excluded from existing domain knowledge.

5. Susceptible to security risks

As AI often relies on data networks, AI systems are susceptible to security risks. With the onset of offensive AI, enhanced cybersecurity will be needed to ensure the technology is sustainable. According toa Forrester consultancy, 88% of decision makers in the security industry are convinced that offensive AI is an emerging threat.

As AI uses data to make systems smarter and more accurate, cyberattacks will incorporate AI to get smarter with every success and failure, making them harder to predict and prevent. Once harmful threats get past security defenses, the attacks become much more difficult to deal with.

Should artificial intelligence be used in healthcare?

AI certainly has the potential to improve healthcare systems. Automating tedious tasks can free up physicians' schedules to allow for more patient interaction. Improving data accessibility helps healthcare professionals take the right steps to prevent disease. Real-time data can inform diagnoses better and faster. AI is being implemented to reduce administrative errors and save vital resources. SMEs are increasingly involved in AI development, making the technology more applicable and better informed. AI is being increasingly applied in healthcare, and limits and challenges continue to be overcome. AI still requires some human vigilance, can exclude social variables, has gaps in population information, and is susceptible to increasingly calculated cyberattacks. Despite some of the challenges and limits that AI faces, this innovative technology promises extraordinary benefits for the medical sector. Whether you're a patient or a doctor, life everywhere is improving thanks to AI.