The Future of AI in Medicine and What it Means for Average Citizens

Could Artificial Intelligence be a violation of privacy?

AI algorithms are being incorporated into the world of medicine to do various tasks such as predict the heart health of a patient and the future complications they may face based off of family history and other factors. This surely looks very promising to both medical workers and patients, but there also are concerns about patient security and privacy. Some people feel that bringing technology into medicine in such a big way could lead to dehumanization of patients and I think its fair to say that these concerns are valid. Many experts in the field insist there a numerous ethical questions we must answer before continuing to incorporate these complex forms of technology into medicine.

Like any other technology, AI is not perfect. It can and will make mistakes. Though these mistakes will likely be rare, they can have deadly consequences. Technological error coupled with human error is the makings for absolute disaster. If a doctor were to begin leaning on AI too heavily, they could easily allow something to slip past them that they would typically notice.

Arguably the most controversial aspect of it all is the invasion of privacy that AI may bring to technology. A lot of people simply do not trust a machine to make a judgement call on something as important as their health. The possibility of these machines being hacked or manipulated by some outside force with sinister intentions. These are also valid concerns. Incorporating AI into medicine means putting a lot of trust into the programmers making these pieces of technology. I suppose this poses a very big question; Are you willing to trust computer programmers with your health? I suspect a great deal of you would say no, but it appears this technology will continue to enter various fields of medicine regardless of your personal thoughts.