The Surgical Singularity Is Approaching

Those keeping abreast of the latest medical developments may be aware of the buzz surrounding applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to medical tasks. To date, these have mainly involved application of computer algorithms to clinical data such as x-rays, images or text-based medical records, to diagnose disease. The sensationalism has largely arisen due to the fact that in some instances, these algorithms have met or exceeded capabilities of a specialist physician for particular diagnostic tasks. With these early accomplishments, a question arises as to how the introduction of clinically viable AI may affect the role of human physicians in the future. Being at a primitive stage and lacking widespread real-world application, the topic remains speculative at present.