In the last several weeks, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has commented on artificial intelligence and the future of medicine. For nearly a decade, many visionaries and innovators in medicine have believed this to be the case. Finally, the FDA is getting on board by creating an internal data science incubator, called Information Exchange and Data Transformation, or INFORMED. Already this year, the FDA has approved a clinical support software that uses AI algorithms to detect changes in brain function that can alert neurologists much faster than traditional technologies. In addition, the agency also approved an AI-based tool that uses a camera to detect diabetic retinopathy -- a condition that can lead to blindness if not detected and treated early.

Many of you have probably been to France, considering that it's the most visited country in the world. While you were there, you may have noticed that the country is quite large – about the size of Texas, but with far fewer Mexicans. Like Texans, the French are proud of where they come from, and will ramble on about it in their funny little accents much to the chagrin of anyone within earshot. This sense of national pride is what made our article on "The Top-10 French Artificial Intelligence Startups" quite popular, and as we promised, we're going to follow up with an article on some French AI startups in healthcare. None of the top French AI companies we wrote about last month came from the healthcare sector, which happens to be the cornerstone of Monsieur Macron's $1.8 billion AI investment program over the next four years.

The White House on Thursday hosted a summit on artificial intelligence, bringing together more than 100 business leaders, government officials and technical experts to discuss AI's potential for making sense of the data that is inundating healthcare and other industries. Representatives from agriculture, energy, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and transportation attendaed the summit to discuss a number of topics, including research and development, workforce development, regulatory barriers to AI innovation and sector-specific applications of the technology. Tech giants such as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft also participated. "Artificial intelligence holds tremendous potential as a tool to empower the American worker, drive growth in American industry and improve the lives of the American people," said Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the President for technology policy. "Our free market approach to scientific discovery harnesses the combined strengths of government, industry and academia, and uniquely positions us to leverage this technology for the betterment of our great nation."

Investigators from the Mayo Clinic and AliveCor demonstrated that a trained artificial intelligence network can help identify people at increased risk of arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death despite displaying a normal heart rhythm on their electrocardiogram. Up to half of patients with long QT syndrome can show a normal interval on a standard test, the personal EKG manufacturer AliveCor said in a statement. Correct diagnoses and treatment can be crucial, especially when using drugs that may prolong heartbeats. The researchers' deep neural network generated the results using data from a single lead of a 12-lead EKG--measuring the voltage between the left and right arms--suggesting that simpler, portable devices may be used to detect the concealed heart condition, the company said. The network had an overall accuracy of 79%, with 73% sensitivity and 81% specificity.

About AliveCor AliveCor, Inc. is pioneering the creation of FDA-cleared machine learning techniques to enable proactive heart care and is recognized around the world for transforming cardiac care. The FDA-cleared KardiaMobile is the most clinically validated mobile ECG solution on the market. It is recommended by leading cardiologists and used by people worldwide for accurate ECG recordings. KardiaMobile, and KardiaBand, when paired with the Kardia app provide instant analysis for detecting atrial fibrillation (AF) and normal sinus rhythm in an ECG. Kardia is the first A.I. enabled platform to help clinicians manage patients for the early detection of atrial fibrillation, the most common cardiac arrhythmia and one that leads to a five times greater risk of stroke.

AI is the next industrial revolution. Although in its nascency, we are already seeing bold strides in areas as varied as extracting metadata from videos, voice recognition, natural language processing, handwriting recognition and so forth. The impact of AI can be felt across industries from military to media and entertainment. Arguably, the area that we are most likely to see growth is in the health care industry. According to a recent report from PwC, health care is one of the sectors most likely to reap the benefits of AI.

The UAE is all about innovation. So, it follows that the world is watching the Emirates when it comes to the future of healthcare– after all, it's hard to think of a sector that is growing more quickly with more technological advances, or a country that has taken more bold steps across so many industries. One of the key areas of advancement in healthcare is, of course, artificial intelligence (AI), which refers to intelligent applications that assist with diagnosis of disease, treatment recommendations, as well as data management, improving online consultations, speeding up drug development, and improving doctor and medical student training. The UAE is positioned to be the region leader on this, having already made huge strides in accumulating the knowledge, finances, and tools required to incorporate AI into daily healthcare practices. Let's take one example: the Dubai Future Foundation has invested millions into AI development initiatives, such as the UAE AI and Robotics Award for Good, which asks applicants from across the globe to develop and submit advanced uses for AI in healthcare. Furthermore, tech startups have soared in number in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region since 2010, and the UAE is leading the way– securing 50% of all MENA tech funding between 2014 and 2017.

An algorithm that uses artificial intelligence can automatically and more accurately diagnose a potentially devastating cause of childhood blindness than most expert physicians, a paper published in JAMA Ophthalmology suggests. The finding could help prevent blindness in more babies with the disease, called retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP. Musician Stevie Wonder went blind due to this condition. The algorithm accurately diagnosed the condition in images of infant eyes 91 percent of the time. On the other hand, a team of eight physicians with ROP expertise who examined the same images had an average accuracy rate of 82 percent.

At AcademyHealth's 2018 Health Datapalooza on Thursday, the US Food and Drug Administration offered a vote of confidence for artificial intelligence in healthcare, promising more refined strategies for regulation, touting its tech incubator for AI innovation, and announcing a new machine learning partnership with Harvard. "We're implementing a new approach to the review of artificial intelligence," FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said. As one example, he pointed to the agency's approval earlier this year of a new clinical decision support software that uses AI algorithms to help alert neurovascular specialists of brain deterioration faster than existing technologies. "AI holds enormous promise for the future of medicine, and we're actively developing a new regulatory framework to promote innovation in this space and support the use of AI-based technologies," Gottlieb said. "So, as we apply our Pre-Cert program -- where we focus on a firm's underlying quality -- we'll account for one of the greatest benefits of machine learning -- that it can continue to learn and improve as it is used."

At AcademyHealth's 2018 Health Datapalooza on Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration offered a vote of confidence for artificial intelligence in healthcare, promising more refined strategies for regulation, touting its tech incubator for AI innovation and announcing a new machine learning partnership with Harvard. "We're implementing a new approach to the review of artificial intelligence," said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD. As one example, he pointed to the agency's approval earlier this year of a new clinical decision support software that uses AI algorithms to help alert neurovascular specialists of brain deterioration faster than existing technologies. "AI holds enormous promise for the future of medicine, and we're actively developing a new regulatory framework to promote innovation in this space and support the use of AI-based technologies," said Gottlieb. "So, as we apply our Pre-Cert program – where we focus on a firm's underlying quality – we'll account for one of the greatest benefits of machine learning – that it can continue to learn and improve as it is used."