3 ways artificial intelligence is changing the healthcare industry

From apocalyptic prognostications to impassioned positions -- and everything in between -- it seems like everyone and their mother has developed an opinion on the role artificial intelligence (AI) will play in shaping society in the coming decades. The disparity between each of these notwithstanding, what's clear is that "narrow AI" is already starting to have an impact on everything from software development to education to insurance. Despite multiple dalliances with AI stretching all the way back to the 1970s, my industry, healthcare, has yet to embrace AI with the same vigor as many others. Fortunately, this is finally starting to change. Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan reports that the healthcare AI market is set to experience a compound annual growth rate of 40 percent through 2021, largely because AI has the potential to improve health care outcomes by 30 to 40 percent while simultaneously cutting the costs of treatment in half.