The rise of artificial intelligence in fighting cancer - Raconteur

"Cancer is an umbrella term for thousands of different types of conditions, yet treatment offered today is often generic and does not consider the need for differing therapies for different people," says Professor Toby Walsh, a leading expert in artificial intelligence (AI). "However, with AI, all of us can have access to the best experts on the planet to get the best diagnosis and treatment." Major technology companies such as Alphabet's Verily and Google's DeepMind, alongside a slew of startups, are using cognitive computing to fight cancer by building tools that essentially sort and accumulate medical knowledge and data on a scale that is impossible for humans alone to achieve. Using machines to encapsulate the knowledge of physicians and experts, and to interpret data better than the specialists, can create a new understanding of cancer to provide better diagnosis and treatment outcomes. For example, opportunities provided by genome sequencing can be unlocked with AI.