Automate This! Could autonomous robots put surgeons and pharmacists out of a job?

Welcome to the second instalment of'Automate This!,' a Day 6 series about the future of work in an artificially intelligent world. In 2011, Krista Jones was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. The next five years were a blur of doctor's visits and operations. "I think I saw seven doctors over that time period," Jones recalls. I was heading towards a double mastectomy, mostly out of fear for the fact that nobody could explain why [the tumours] were reoccurring." Jones' final treatment plan was built using algorithms and big data -- some of the precursors to today's A.I. technology. That plan made it possible for Jones to forgo a painful double mastectomy, and ultimately left her cancer-free. "Not only did it save my life but it left me whole in so many different ways," she says. "[It] avoided some of the scars, emotionally and physically, that most people who go through cancer treatment are left with." The treatment plan that helped Krista Jones beat a rare form of cancer was developed using machine learning algorithms and big data. She's seen the downsides of machine learning technologies, too. Her own son was forced to rethink his plan to become a radiologist after watching his career prospects dwindle thanks to automation. Still, Jones is convinced that artificial intelligence is the future of health care. "I think what we need to do is harness the good while regulating the bad," she says, "such that we don't get hung up and stop the development of life-saving treatments." "The only next step is now replacing those actual physical physicists and doctors that actually say: 'Yes, this is the right treatment plan'.