Artificial intelligence might be the future of practice management

While a hot topic of late, it is easy to forget that the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) is not new. Early philosophers and mathematicians theorized that mechanical reasoning could one day be taught to robots, automatons, and smart machines. However, AI advancements slowed over the next few decades due to competing funding priorities, moral/ethical concerns, and the limitations of computing technology and data storage. It was not until the late 1990s/early 2000s that most of these challenges and concerns were alleviated and computer and data technologies advanced, becoming more affordable. Today, significant investment can be seen in health care-related AI with well-known companies like Microsoft, Google, and IBM heavily involved in promoting AI solutions in eye care,and smaller startups even attaining FDA-approval as standalone diagnostic technology.2-6