- Artificial Intelligence within the medical area is useful for diagnosing diseases.
- The development of algorithms makes it possible to imitate human intelligence to perform tasks that can improve according to the information they collect.
- Despite all the advances made, specialists do not believe that technology can replace doctors, but that it is a means of supporting them to improve their work.
The world is advancing at great speed and it is a situation that cannot be stopped. The field in which innovations are best appreciated is that of technology and for this reason a frequent question is whether these types of innovations will ever be able to replace doctors. Especially from the development of tools such as ChatGPT and other types of alternatives that are already available.
In this vein, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the medical area to diagnose diseases advances towards autonomy and the replacement of human activities with machines. Although the truth is that this will face legal challenges in the future when there are wrong diagnoses, incorrect treatments or damage to the patient’s health.
The researcher of the Yucatan Unit of the Institute for Research in Applied Mathematics and Systems (IIMAS) of the UNAM, Fernando Arámbula Cosíoraised the above and wondered:
“In these cases, who will be responsible? The manufacturer of the image analysis system, the hospital, the hospital’s biomedical engineering department, or the treating physician?”
The expert participated in the Permanent Seminar on Artificial Intelligence and Law, organized by the Legal Research Institute of the UNAM.
In the hybrid format conference entitled “Applied Artificial Intelligence: Image Analysis Applied to Surgery and Diagnosis Using Artificial Intelligence”, he explained how this discipline is progressing with technologies that are getting closer and closer to replacing medical specialists with technicians trained to manage these equipment.
Can technology replace doctors?
The IIMAS academic pointed out that the diagnosis is based with greater emphasis on computational tools of imaging, which is used in X-rays, tomography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance, among other techniques with which diseases are detected.
In the development of cutting-edge methods and equipment, AI participates, a set of systems or combination of algorithms whose purpose is to create machines that mimic human intelligence to perform tasks, which can improve according to the information they collect.
Benefits of applied technology in the field of health
Using this discipline of computer science, the expert works on various models that make it possible, for example, to trace the outline and shape of the prostate from a real image, to later replicate it in a computational model that uses statistics.
One method that is being tested in several countries is the foetometrywhere the ultrasound images of a baby are used to develop artificial intelligence patterns with which, for example, the cerebellum or femur of the fetus is subsequently measured to monitor its proper development.
“These measurements are made, supported by ultrasound, by the gynecologist. But with the help of patterns and the artificial intelligence tool, a not-so-specialized technician could carry out the measurements, which would facilitate diagnosis in rural or very distant areas.”
Regarding legal aspects, currently the human expert is responsible by law, regardless of technological capabilities. In labor matters, Arámbula Cosío stated that With help in managing AI methods, medical specialists could be replaced with radiologists, for example.
According to the university student, it is important to consider whether in the future the ideal will be computerized support for human diagnosis, massive computerized diagnosis with human validation, or maintaining human validation on a case-by-case basis.
Until now, scientific and technological advances in this area allow adequate support for human experts in specific medical imaging tasks, such as ultrasound fetometry, mammography and CT (computerized axial tomography) of the lungs.
And in your case, do you think that one day technology can replace doctors?
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