How A.I. is revolutionizing the discovery of new medical treatments

 

Artificially intelligent computer systems are used extensively in medical sciences. Common applications include diagnosing patients, end-to-end drug discovery and development, improving communication between physician and patient, transcribing medical documents, such as prescriptions, and remotely treating patients. While computer systems often execute tasks more efficiently than humans, more recently, state-of-the-art computer algorithms have achieved accuracies which are at par with human experts in the field of medical sciences. Some speculate that it is only a matter of time before humans are completely replaced in certain roles within the medical sciences. The motivation of this article is to discuss the ways in which artificial intelligence is changing the landscape of medical science and to separate hype from reality.

KEY WORDS: Artificial intelligence, deep convolutional neural network, medical use

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) in varying forms and degrees has been used to develop and advance a wide spectrum of fields, such as banking and financial markets, education, supply chains, manufacturing, retail and e-commerce, and healthcare. Within the technology industry, AI has been an important enabler for many new business innovations. These include web search (e.g., Google), content recommendations (e.g., Netflix), product recommendations (e.g., Amazon), targeted advertising (e.g., Facebook), and autonomous vehicles (e.g., Tesla).

Humans reap the benefits of artificially intelligent systems every day. Starting from the spam free emails that we receive in our inboxes, to smart watches that use inputs from accelerometer sensors to distinguish between mundane activities and aerobic activity, to buying products on online shopping sites, like Amazon that recommend products based on our previous purchase records. These examples represent the use of AI in a variety of fields, such as technology and retail. AI has transformed our everyday lives, with an effect on the way we perceive and process information.