Machine learning 101: Promise, pitfalls and medicine's future

You've heard the term "machine learning" as it's becoming recognized as a valuable tool to help physicians in diagnosing and managing patients, as well as other aspects of medicine. But do you understand what that buzzword really means? Two experts recently explained the fundamentals of machine learning, what it means in the clinical setting and the possible risks of using the technology during an education session--"Machine Learning: An Introduction and Discussion of Medical Applications"--that took place during the June 2021 AMA Sections Meetings and was hosted by AMA Medical Student Section. In machine learning, algorithms are used to model data. The machine then identifies patterns in the data and it uses the patterns to create a model.