The AI Revolution: For Patients, Promise and Challenges Ahead

From HealthDay:

Dr. Ravi Parikh is an instructor in medical ethics and health policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He pointed out that "AI and machine learning are sort of a double-edged sword, particularly in my field of oncology."

AI has proven its potential for interpreting images, for example diagnosing lung cancer from a CT scan, but when it comes to using AI for supporting clinical decisions, like whether this patient should have chemo or that patient should go to the hospital, there's a risk that it won't help patients or could even be harmful, Parikh noted.

"Even though you might have an AI that's accurate on the whole, if it's mischaracterizing an outcome for a specific group of patients you really have to question whether it's worth it," he said.

What's been missing in the development of health care AI, Parikh added, have been rigorous prospective studies to determine whether the technology is actually useful for patients.

Just as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that drug companies run clinical trials to confirm that their product is safe and effective, Parikh said, the FDA should start requiring makers of AI tools to test their safety and effectiveness in humans.