Daily News Capsule

Artificial intelligence even though in its developing years is continuously expanding its realm. While progress is taking place in autonomous vehicle technology, a new age of AI-supported autonomous weapon systems (AWS), primarily drones, will likely be a noteworthy part of future war. However, what continues to be a subject of debate are the correlating risks of such drones and potential catastrophic strategy outcomes. 

 

 

In such circumstances how is one expected to blame a machine?

Before anyone reacts, we need to remember that under the Geneva convention, the senior-most person in charge is chargeable for crimes if they knowingly or unknowingly allowed the crime to occur, even though the decision in this hypothetical situation was made by AI. Health care applies the same principle.

In cases of negligence, who should be held accountable- the hospital operating the treatment, the company providing the AI, or the owners of the AI robot? For this, it is important to know the difference.

 

AI’s progress has penetrated the healthcare system. It has stretched the human boundaries of performance. The algorithms are becoming more accurate as they accumulate data, estimating the options for diagnosis, care, treatments, and outcomes.

A case in point is the algorithms from one of google health’s programs, that can predict the onset of acute kidney injury in advance. AI also shares the proficiency especially related to ophthalmology and radiology, with providers, who may lack the specific domain knowledge.

Such standardization could be a game-changer in times ahead. Don’t forget that the AI is also releasing medical practitioners off time-consuming tasks like gathering electronic medical records and reading screens.

Time will reveal, if the AI would collect critical information in patients’ records and analyze recordings of appointment details into structured data, thereby assessing the quality of engagement between medical contributors.

An industry report predicts that the application of AI in the Indian healthcare system will be worth INR 431.97 billion by 2021, expanding at a rate of 40%.

 

Why is AI so critical for the Indian landscape?

The current patient-doctor ratio is as low as 1,700:1. The adoption of AI applications will empower doctors to offer their service to more patients and minimize the gaps in demand and supply of medical services in the country. 

Moreover, the AI-enabled healthcare services empower hospitals to implement patient-centric plans, and deliver health care facilities, and eliminating unnecessary procedures.

 

It’s not a total ride! With AI systems concerning patients’ health and care, and taking the challenges about system efficiency, data acquisition, and more.  AI errors are different in nature, patients and medical providers could react differently to the injuries resulting from system errors. 

 

• Firstly, if the AI becomes widespread, an underlying issue in one AI system might result in injuries to a large number of patients, as compared to the number of patients injured by a single provider’s error.

 

• Secondly, electronic health records are shattered as patients often see different providers and insurance companies, which leads to split the data into multiple formats. With the input of such imperfect and predictive analysis, the clinical decision can create significant variance and result in inaccurate outcomes.

 

• Thirdly on the issue of confidentiality, some patients might find it to be a violation of their privacy, and the information may be accessed by a third party like an insurance company.

 

For mitigating such risks, potential solutions may be a little complex but will help in the long term concerning the issue. This would involve the investment in infrastructure for high-quality data and collaborative efforts by administrative bodies. 

 

For evolving the healthcare environment in India, medical education providers need to prepare future doctors and medical specialists to evaluate and interpret AI that they would encounter in times ahead. All melds into healthcare risks increase, thus, instituting a regulatory framework will be mandatory for building confidence and legal resources. 

This doesn’t say that the AI machine and autonomous machines should not be a part of our legacy and future. This need is obvious as we work our way out of the pandemic. 

A 10 billion population of the world by 2050, will need such technologies to feed the demand in healthcare monitoring and responses, which may reduce premiums and cost but most importantly, save lives!