The AI Issue

The pace at which AI is developing is often described as “breakneck” or “lightning fast,” with significant advancements happening in a relatively short time frame, sometimes even exceeding the rate of Moore’s Law, where computational power doubles roughly every six months instead of every two years.

Compare that with the length of time it typically takes for a medical discovery to be widely adopted into standard medical practice: 17 years. It’s not surprising that, according to one American Medical Association poll, more than two-thirds of physicians were intrigued by AI’s potential, but only 38 percent were using it in any capacity in their practices.

Here’s the thing: The world isn’t going to wait 17 years for doctors to feel comfortable using AI. 

This series of articles provides enough of an overview of AI in medicine, some current and promising clinical applications, and the ethics, privacy, and bias concerns surrounding its use to give even the most hesitant physician a working grasp of the issues. And if that’s you, keep reading, because if there was one thing the Brown faculty and alums interviewed agree on, it’s that physicians ignore AI at their own peril.

— Kris Cambra, Editor
Medicine@Brown