Will AI Live Up To Our Expectations Or Disappoint The Healthcare Industry?

We interact with Artificial intelligence (AI) every day. The technology has proliferated every industry and healthcare is no exception. Through machine learning and natural language processing we've been promised exceptional transformation in patient care delivery, but can AI live up to our expectations?

AI systems have raised concerns ranging from privacy data and the effectiveness of care to the misappropriation of sensitive data. For the most part, tech companies have prioritized money over people, which doesn't just have healthcare professionals worried but the general public too.

South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual conference in Austin, Texas was to hold a slew of presentations centered on the problem and solution that is AI. While the conference was cancelled, much can be gleaned from the topics up for debate.

A focus on the humanity of technology

Disease outbreaks are at the forefront of our minds with the coronavirus. People want to know whether technology, together with AI and machine learning, can help medical professionals, humanitarian agencies, and volunteers get ahead of a disaster. Humanitarian AI: Disasters, Displacement & Disease was to see Jason Brown (United States Air Force), Jeffrey Freeman (John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), and Ashley Greiner (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) take the stage to discuss pressing issues like disease outbreaks as well as natural disasters, like bushfires, flooding, and hurricanes.

How health tech can make our lives better

There are two places we spend most of our lives— the workplace and homes. How technology can improve our health, wellness, and efficiency lies in unlocking the potential of these daily settings. Robots and Automation: Happier Healthcare Workplaces, was to run with a panel comprised of Dr. Cole Edmonson (AMN Healthcare), Stefanie Beavers (Medical City Dallas Heart and Spine Hospitals), and Peter Worsnop (Diligent Robotics). Topics would cover the looming registered nurse shortage and how technology can assist overworked nurses and help them be happy at work again. Experts would also tackle smart homes, hubs, and how people are being empowered to access healthcare services using devices like Alexa in How Tech is Transforming Healthcare in Your Home.

Keeping AI ethical

The ethicalities of technology are tangled in a web of money, privacy concerns, and a desperate need for new solutions. And this panel was ready to address all these concerns and more. The AI Did What?! When AI Isn't Very Smart will see Madelaine Eilish, who leads AI on the Ground Initiative at Data & Society would delve into the unanticipated errors, failures, and accidents AI poses. Everything from offensive chatbots and Uber's self-driving car crash to what is being done to help designers anticipate and mitigate potential AI system failures was up for discussion.