Is AI As Smart As Your Doctor? – Driven By Braman Motorcars
Bottom Line: The long running joke, since the onset of the internet age, is that if you search for what ails you online – all roads will eventually lead to death. The takeaway has been that if you know what ails you – you might be able to find additional information about how to treat your condition or to go about living your life online. If you don’t... You probably won’t and may be likely to overreact.
In the age of AI, everything is changing once again. And when it comes to the matter of obtaining a proper diagnosis and/or coming up with a treatment plan, the question has become whether AI has an edge over your PA? A recent study put this to the test. The study entitled: Artificial intelligence vs human clinicians: a comparative analysis of complex medical query handling across the USA and Australia tried to get to the bottom of this. The stated purpose of the study: This study sought to explore the practical application and effectiveness of AI-generated responses in healthcare and compared these with human clinician responses to complex medical queries in the USA and Australia. So what were the findings?
A comparative analysis used 7,165 medical queries to assess AI-generated responses versus human clinicians on accuracy, professionalism and real-time performance using machine learning algorithms and various tests. The study evaluated AI and human responses through the U.S. and Australia.
The results showed AI-generated responses were generally more accurate than human responses, suggesting potential benefits like increased efficiency, lower costs, and enhanced patient satisfaction. However, significant concerns such as AI’s lack of emotional depth, data bias and the risk of displacing human clinicians must be addressed to fully utilize AI in clinical settings.
The average performance of AI tracked at about 80% in overall quality – which is notably 2% higher than current patient ratings within the US. Not surprisingly, at least at this stage, AI’s strong suit isn’t providing compassionate bedside manner (but then again not every doctor is exactly adept at doing that either).
At this point in the cycle, we’re still at the point where AI is best used as a tool to assist your medical service provider, as opposed to effectively being your medical service provider; however, the early returns are encouraging. The study suggests it may not be long before we may see greater accuracy, more efficiency, better outcomes, and lower costs. All great things.