There aren’t many topics that have dominated discussions quite as much as artificial intelligence has in the past 18 months. Some commentators believe that it’ll be the end of civilization as we know it; others think that it’ll push humanity into the next stage of its evolution.
In truth, AI will likely prove to be a mixed bag; capable of elevating humanity in some ways, dragging it down in others. In this post, we’re going to focus on the positive impact of artificial intelligence: the impact it will have — in fact, is already having — on healthcare.
It’s Speeding Up Diagnostics
The faster that a doctor can make a diagnosis, the more quickly the patient can begin treatment that will put them on the road to recovery. While there are plenty of medical issues that doctors can diagnose in seconds because of how widespread the issues are, others can be more challenging to identify. Artificial intelligence can help to speed up the diagnostic stage, quickly eliminating some causes and identifying other possible diagnoses. While it’s the doctor who makes the final call, AI is making their jobs easier — and that can have a big impact on patient outcomes and satisfaction.
Drug Development Progress
Drug development can be a long and arduous process. In the past, the process of bringing a drug to market could take well more than a decade. There was also a long line of drugs that were close to coming to market but ultimately fell as they were reaching the finish line. Those failed attempts could cost many billions of dollars and use many years of researcher brainpower.
AI is helping to speed up the process, completing many of the time-consuming tasks in a fraction of the time. One such example reduced the average timeframe of more than ten years to just more than thirty months. There’s hope that, as AI tools become more refined, drugs will reach the market more quickly than ever.
It’s Allowing for New Healthcare Products
Artificial intelligence isn’t just helping medical professionals work more efficiently. It’s also making a noticeable difference in the lives of many patients, too. There are innovative orthotics powered by AI that are helping people affected by neurological gait disorders, as well as AI-powered prosthetic hands and advanced blood glucose monitors for people with diabetes. In the coming years, we can expect that most user-end healthcare products will be integrated with AI in some way, allowing for better, more personalized care.
It’s Helping With Disease Prevention
Doctors have long known that it’s much better to prevent a disease than to treat it. In the past, prevention depended on public communication and personal action — and even then, there was nothing close to a guarantee. Today, AI is being utilized to identify patients at risk for developing diseases such as kidney disease, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and many other diseases. This allows patients to begin managing their condition much earlier — indeed, in some cases even before the first symptom has presented itself, reducing the impact of the disease.
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