INSIGHT: AI in Health Care--A Look at Critical Data Regulations

Artificial intelligence tools permeate the health care landscape, even though many health care practitioners don't realize that they're leveraging such tools in their everyday practice. The American Medical Association, in a report from its 2018 Annual Meeting, described AI as: "a host of computational methods that produce systems that perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence. These computational methods include, but are not limited to, machine image recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning." The AMA emphasized in its report, however, that another term used in the health care setting with regard to AI is "augmented intelligence," given that AI generally is designed to "enhance the capabilities of human clinical decision making," particularly in the health care industry. In other words, AI is a tool that, at its best, helps humans make better decisions, and complete tasks more efficiently and effectively.