AI in healthcare? Ask the patient - PharmaTimes

It seems as if the conversation around the nature of healthcare's AI future is one that's been conducted without the voices of patients themselves Whether it's in the promise of safer self-driving cars; the threat of job automation; or the vision of the virtual assistant that knows your shopping list before you even know it yourself, artificial intelligence is tipped to transform every aspect of our lives. And this is particularly true in healthcare, where over the last five years AI startups have raised over 300 equity investment deals – more than in any other sector. Investment, however, isn't enough on its own to determine future direction or velocity, and there are several likely limiting factors on the impact that AI may have on healthcare over the short to medium term. For a start, the technology itself, as highlighted by a recent STAT News report on IBM's Watson, still remains in its infancy – despite media and marketing claims to the opposite. Silicon Valley's disruptive mantra of'move fast and break things' is all very well if all that's at risk of being broken is the integrity of a shopping list and a delivery slot, but when it's human wellbeing at stake you probably need to move more slowly – and to take care.