The quest for artificial intelligence
began more than 80 years ago.
I can perform 36 distinct acts.
The idea was that computer technology
would one day be powerful enough
to carry out tasks better and
more efficiently than humans.
We've got to actually say hello to it.
Today AI has come of age.
It's already having an impact
on many parts of human life,
from self-driving cars
to finding soulmates.
But perhaps its greatest
impact will be on medicine
and the way we monitor human health.
Dr. Eric Topol is one of
the most influential doctors
in digital medicine.
The pioneering American cardiologist
has helped develop drugs that
have saved countless lives.
He is now at the forefront of
the AI revolution in healthcare.
These are his prescriptions
for transforming
the future of human health.
The overarching goal is to
bring back the humanity.
If we do this right, we can rescue
the problems of healthcare.
The doctor-patient relationship
is a founding principle of
healthcare and medicine.
The first step is to eliminate
keyboards and computer screens
in clinical encounters.
Some doctors in the West
can spend up to twice as many
hours on medical paperwork
than with their patients.
In the years ahead, we
should be able to eliminate
the data clerk functions of clinicians.
These are mutually hated
as much by patients
as by doctors and clinicians.
AI tools such as speech
recognition technology
that are now commonplace in homes
could be used in clinical settings
for capturing data and notes,
allowing doctors to concentrate on people.
We have a problem with
accuracy and efficiency.
Trained on a huge
resource of medical data,
the power of AI learning
can read some images
more accurately than humans.
Whether it's a pattern
like a scan or a slide,
or a prediction, AI can
really rev up the accuracy.
And that is important
for a better diagnosis,
better treatments, better
outcomes, lower cost.
Powerful machines can interpret scans
150 times faster than radiologists,
and can work 24 hours a day.
AI can even suggest a diagnosis.
Many conditions could be AI-diagnosed.
And so the time that a
doctor comes into play
is very specific to important diagnoses.
Data is critical for improving
our understanding of disease and illness.
The more we understand,
the better the chances
of preventing, diagnosing, and curing.
But currently, only
about 5% of medical data
is used effectively.
We had a problem of
generating so much data,
terabytes of data for each person,
but we didn't have a way to analyze it.
We didn't have a way to extract the juice,
the distillate of this.
Now we do, and that's what
artificial intelligence
is really about.
Harnessed to wireless devices,
AI could oversee every facet
of people's health data,
from family history to
food intake to exercise.
People will have the opportunity
to have this real,
integrated view of themselves
to help prevent illness,
to help guide them
for better management of conditions.
Over time, we'll see this virtual coach
for promoting health.
Constant AI monitoring
could transform the most prolific diseases
that demand the most
care, such as diabetes.
This would empower people to take charge
of their own health.
Another way that AI will kick in over time
is to get rid of hospital rooms.
We can monitor patients in
the comfort of their own home,
because they can have the sensors
that would provide the
same type of monitoring
as if someone was in
the intensive care unit.
Caring for people outside
of medical settings
would not only prevent
hospital-acquired disease,
it could also save money.
All these things favor this shift
of reliance on a patient's bedroom,
rather than the hospital room.
We're talking about a whole lot of people
that don't need to be employed
in the hospital setting;
that is a great way to reduce
the burden in the future.
In the United States a
hospital costs $5,000 a night,
so you could get a lot of data plans
that would go for years for that cost.
If the clinical community
stands up for patients
and say all the power, efficiency,
productivity, workflow from AI
is going to be used to
give the gift of time
to doctors and nurses and patients,
that's where we flip this thing
and achieve a rescue
mission for healthcare.
