Will an algorithm be your next doctor?

My continued explorations of the widespread technological and ethical implications of AI inevitably led me to the field of medicine, one of the most impacted fields by the promising advent of AI. As I demonstrated in my research analysis, medicine is often portrayed as the crossroads between ethics, technology, and judgement in the name of serving patients. Consequently, the practicing field of medicine seems to be the culmination of skepticism in regards to use of AI to advise and treat patients. No matter how accurate and reliable the algorithm may be, we as humans always tend to place more faith in other humans in regards to our health and rightfully so. We tend to develop closer bonds to a living being with a face, name, and a personality as opposed to a cold, calculated algorithm developed by a group of scientists in Silicon Valley. Ultimately, that poses the problem of how we are going to implement this powerful technology into hospitals, places which could dramatically benefit from the prediction and deep learning methods proposed by AI, while considering the concerns of the skeptics and the rights of the patients. This led me to the AMA Journal of Ethics, a public, peer-reviewed journal which discusses the ethical implications of medicine.

Rigby's analysis of the current problems of AI and the future implications of the technology really intrigued me as he provided a perspective from a physician as I had never seen before. It is becoming increasingly clear that the development of technology in hospitals is about to see a massive disparity between different aspects of practicing medicine. We are living in a world where doctors at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are using advanced deep learning technology through IBM Watson to establish correlations and diagnosis beyond the scope of human knowability. However, in the same facility, doctors are using pagers to communicate with one another. It's these nuances that distinguish the applications and challenges of AI in each field that I am excited to explore as I narrow down my designated field of interest for the impact, application, and implications of AI as I search for a mentor and continue my research.