These days, Alexa Mieses Malchuk, MD, a family doctor in Cary, NC, uses AI (artificial intelligence) to record and transcribe her talks with patients. Instead of typing as fast as she can on her laptop, “I can focus more on my patient,” says Malchuk. “I can really listen and capture all the important information, both mentally and more easily in my notes.”
That’s especially useful when someone has a long medical history or communicates differently.
Drafting doctors’ notes is just the start of what AI can do. From reading X-rays to making sure you know how to take a new medicine, “AI has tremendous potential to improve health care in a lot of different ways,” says Marschall Runge, MD, PhD, author of The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy, and the Future of American Medicine.
What Is AI in Health Care?
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a tool that allows computers to learn from information and make decisions or do tasks that usually require human thinking. That includes things AI can do, such as:
- Learn from experience (this is called machine learning)
- Understand language
- Find patterns
- Solve problems
- Make decisions
Scientists started working on AI in the 1950s. Progress moved faster in the 2000s. Faster computers and better software helped a lot. People also began to store more information on computers instead of paper. New tools like Siri and Alexa have taken significant steps forward in helping machines understand language.
Today, AI is powerful enough to be used behind the scenes at doctors’ offices and hospitals. It also powers many items you may already use, like health care apps, home medical devices, and chatbots that answer your health questions.
Thanks to all these advances, “AI is going to change, in a very positive way, our own personal health,” says Runge.
Benefits of AI
There’s a reason doctors are excited about AI. For instance, so far it can:
- Process lab results faster than humans
- Check if you’re at higher risk for certain conditions, like a heart attack or stroke
- Analyze data to predict disease or infection outbreaks in certain areas
- Help researchers make new medicines
- Let surgeons get real-time advice from other surgeons during surgery
- Spot early signs of health issues, like skincancer
- Detect some infections, like COVID, in your blood
- Find tumors, fractures, and other problems on imaging results
- Help emergency rooms decide who needs care first
- Personalize some cancer treatments based on your genes
- Alert your doctor if a new drug might clash with another one you take
- Offer online tools to help you quit smoking or using drugs
- Help you manage mental problems like depression and anxiety
AI’s superpower? Being able to quickly digest and understand vast amounts of information, and in a very short time. “It can analyze amounts of data that no human or giant computer can analyze,” says Runge.
Before meeting a new patient, Runge, a cardiologist, looks over their medical record. AI can, too – and can produce a one-page summary in two minutes. “It would take me two hours to do that for very complicated charts,” says Runge.
Doctors can also use AI to comb through medical journals and scientific papers, then provide the highlights. That way, they can stay up-to-date on the latest findings.
AI to Help Out at Home
AI won’t just change how you get health care. It could change how you care for yourself at home, too.
“Technology is making some cool things possible,” says Taher Saifullah, MD, the founder of Spine & Pain Institute Los Angeles.
For instance, if you live with chronic pain, certain apps can help you track it every day so your doctor gets a better idea of your symptoms and how to treat them.
“AI-powered physical therapy programs guide you through exercises at home. And smart reminders – think Alexa-style – help you remember meds or appointments, which can make a big difference,” Saifullah says.
AI tools are being used more often to help with daily living tasks like dealing with insurance or getting financial assistance, says Qiping Fan, DrPH, a public health researcher at Clemson University in South Carolina.
“[They] can also provide medical advice based on clinical guidelines, support setting up home care services or transitions to assisted living, and offer mental health support through virtual companions and cognitive training apps,” Fan says.
Health tools now use AI to help track and understand your health.
“AI is starting to assist seniors through ambient sensing where the home itself becomes a caregiver,” says Moti Gamburd, CEO of CARE Homecare, a Los Angeles-based in-home care provider specializing in Alzheimer’s and dementia home care.
“Instead of wearable devices or cameras, sensors in furniture can detect unusual patterns like a missed meal or skipped medication. We use these systems to alert our care managers without making [clients] feel watched or monitored.”
Smart home tools like these may help you stay independent at home longer.
Section summary
- AI doesn’t just support your doctor. It can help make life easier at home.
- AI-powered tools can remind you to take your medicine, call for help if you fall, and keep track of your insurance.
- These tools could make it easier for you to stay independent and live at home longer.
Concerns and Limits About AI to Keep in Mind
Even with all its abilities, AI isn’t perfect. “It's really important for all of us to hang on to that fact,” says Runge.
Here are some critical limits and risks to keep in mind when using AI in health care:
AI can have a bias. It only works as well as the data it’s trained on. It can make mistakes if it doesn't fully understand your life or medical history. For instance, “if you're a very, very skinny person, and the AI you use has been trained on people that are predominantly overweight, the decisions it recommends may not be accurate for you,” Runge says.
Bias can also affect whole groups of people. AI might ignore certain genders, races, or ethnic backgrounds. This isn’t a technology problem, but a human one. Some of these groups have been left out of health care for years, so they don’t show up in the systems AI learns from.
AI can be wrong. All forms of AI sometimes give wrong or made-up answers. Experts call these “hallucinations.” From advising the incorrect dosage of medicine to triggering false alerts about a hospital patient, hallucinations could pose a serious risk to your health. Experts are still trying to figure out how to prevent them.
You may rely too much on AI. A chatbot can give you advice that’s easy to understand. It can even show care for how you feel. In one study, a group of doctors and nurses looked at answers from real doctors and from a chatbot. They liked the AI answers 80% of the time.
“AI is very good at telling you what you want to hear,” Runge says. “It never says, ‘Well, that was a dumb question.’” But that can open the door to relying on AI too much. “Sometimes people get so dependent on AI, they'll reject answers from [real] people,” says Runge.
It’s unclear how AI protects your privacy. What happens to all the information AI takes in, like a health question you ask a chatbot or a conversation with your therapist? “We need to be vigilant and make sure that AI is highly protected, so your sensitive health information is not available,” Runge says.
We need clear laws and rules for AI, but it will take time to create them and put them in place. These rules are essential to help protect your private health information.
Section summary
- Experts have concerns about AI, such as ignoring people of certain genders, races, or ethnic groups.
- AI can also give wrong answers sometimes.
- It’s unclear how your personal health information is being kept safe. These are big problems that still need answers.
What to Ask Your Doctor About AI
You don’t need to wait until your doctor brings it up to talk about AI’s role in your care. “People ought to feel empowered to ask their doctors anything,” Runge says.
At your next doctor visit, you can ask:
- Are you using AI?
- What do you use it for and why?
- Does it help you make a diagnosis or choose my treatments?
- How do you keep my health information safe?
A common worry about AI is that it will replace doctors. Think of it instead as a tool that doctors can use to improve your care. “It can help tremendously in terms of how rapidly a diagnosis is made or a treatment needs to be started. That actually frees up doctors to spend more time with you, “ says Runge, “not less.”
And no matter how smart AI becomes, “that connection between you and your doctor is something that AI just can't replicate,” Runge says.
Recap
- AI helps computers do jobs that only people used to do, like understand language and spot patterns.
- These tools can help your doctor give better care and help you stay healthy as you age.
- But experts have real concerns. AI can give wrong answers, and it may not protect your health information.
- Talk to your doctor about how they use AI, and ask any questions you have.
Show Sources
Photo Credit: Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images
SOURCES:
Marschall Runge, MD, PhD, executive vice president for medical affairs and dean, University of Michigan Medical School; CEO of Michigan Medicine; author, The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy, and the Future of American Medicine.
Moti Gamburd, CEO, CARE Homecare, Los Angeles, California.
Taher Saifullah, MD, founder of Spine & Pain Institute, Los Angeles, California.
Alexa Mieses Malchuk, MD, MPH, family doctor, Cary, North Carolina.
Qiping Fan, DrPH, assistant professor of epidemiology and public health researcher, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina.
University of Illinois: “What is AI (Artificial Intelligence?)”
Gastrointestinal Endoscopy: “History of artificial intelligence in medicine.”
Mayo Clinic: “AI in healthcare: The future of patient care and health management.”
Health Science Reports: “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Healthcare: A Comprehensive Review of Advancements in Diagnostics, Treatment, and Operational Efficiency.”
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BMC Medical Education: “Revolutionizing healthcare: the role of artificial intelligence in clinical practice.”
Harvard Medical School: “AI Implications for Health Equity: Shaping the Future of Health Care Quality and Safety.”
Indian Journal of Anaesthesia: “Artificial intelligence hallucinations in anaesthesia: Causes, consequences and countermeasures.”
Harvard Health Publishing: “Can AI answer medical questions better than your doctor?”
