The AI Doctor Will See You Now

Machine-learning algorithms accomplish tasks by training on a set of data, rather than being programmed by humans. Armed with the knowledge of what worked before, the system instructs the implant to stimulate users' brains to interrupt a seizure at its onset. The innovation is part of a larger phenomenon that has big implications for how we identify and treat disease: the introduction of artificial intelligence to consumer and clinical electronics. As machines learn from at times millions of humans, doctors are gaining the ability to better identify disease and even predict it before it becomes catastrophic. As in every other area of human endeavor, the introduction of AI to medicine comes with challenges.