Artificial Intelligence in the Intensive Care Unit - Critical Care

The past century has witnessed a massive increase in our ability to perform complex calculations. The development of the transistor in the 1950s, followed by the silicone integrated circuit, accelerated those capabilities and gave rise to what is commonly known as Moore's Law. According to this principle, the number of transistors packed into a dense integrated circuit doubles every 2 years. The corollary is that computation speed also doubles at 2-year intervals. Figure 1 is a graphical interpretation of Moore's Law, showing an exponential increase in computational power, in terms of calculations per second that can be purchased with $1000 (constant US, 2015). According to that graph, computing power has increased by a factor of 1018 from the mechanical analytical engine of the early 1900s to today's core I7 Quad chip found in personal laptop computers. The growth of computer power, based on calculations per second purchased by $1000 USD (constant 2015) during the past century. Also shown are significant developments in technology associated with increases in computer power.