Artificial intelligence. It’s an innovation that took the world by storm, and many industries are now learning how to leverage its power. It made huge waves that reached a variety of industries, from finance to gaming.
In fact, it’s expected to be used in nearly every industry out there. One, in particular, is the healthcare industry. In such a highly regulated and technical industry, it can be difficult to understand how artificial intelligence can play a part. But before anything else, let’s take a look at what artificial intelligence is all about.
What Is Generative AI?
First, let’s swiftly define artificial intelligence. AI is, at its core, a simulation of the human brain by machines or computers. The human brain is complex enough in itself, but artificial intelligence takes the concept of intelligence to a whole new level. While humans are considered the smartest creatures on the planet, artificial intelligence can perform tasks and process data at lightning speeds.
This gave rise to a type of artificial intelligence, known as generative AI. As implied by its name, generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence that generates content – may it be text, images, or other forms of data.
How Is Generative AI Revolutionizing Healthcare?
Generative AI is popularly known to produce texts with the meteoric rise of ChatGPT. But this new technology isn’t limited to just creating content. In fact, it’s capable of a lot more – especially in the healthcare industry. Here’s how generative artificial intelligence is breaking new ground in this field:
Drug Discovery and Development
The traditional process of drug development takes an average of ten to fifteen years. It starts out with the generation of a new molecule that targets a specific response all the way to the testing of the final drug product on actual patients.
What artificial intelligence does to expedite the drug development process is to generate new molecules. AI software can be trained on a specific database of molecules and generate possible molecular candidates that can elicit the desired response.
Medical Imaging
Medical imaging is an effective way to visualize different parts of our body with the help of X-rays, CT scans, and MRI scans. Because it’s a crucial tool for proper diagnosis, medical imaging can play a huge role in a patient’s prognosis. Artificial intelligence can elevate this field by clarifying images or generating videos with reduced noise, allowing for easier reading. On top of that, generative AI software can diagnose medical conditions based on these scans. With this development, diagnoses can be made a lot earlier – therefore preventing the worst to come.
Medical Simulation
One of the latest developments that we see in medical schools is simulation-based education. Medical simulations provide students the opportunity to learn from their mistakes thanks to the freedom that it gives. This also allows students to build confidence in pressuring environments, which are common in the hospital setting. All of these contribute to improved patient outcomes.
So how is artificial intelligence applied in a medical simulation? It’s easy to connect the dots. Manikins could be powered by artificial intelligence to simulate real-life patient conversations. Students can ask these simulators questions about patient history and they’d receive a response based on the topics they learned. These technologies are already being used in many universities worldwide, and AI simulators are growing at unprecedented rates. It’s likely that these inventions still have room left to grow.
Personalized Treatment Plans
With its power to harness large amounts of data, it comes off as no surprise that generative AI also provides personalized treatment plans. Based on patient history and previous treatment plans, artificial intelligence can decide which plans will work and which plans won’t.
One of the biggest trends in healthcare today is precision medicine, which considers the patient’s genetics for making treatment plans. For example, an individual might be more predisposed to cancer than another patient based on their genetics. AI optimizes patient treatment resulting in better patient outcomes. While precision medicine has been one of the biggest breakthroughs in healthcare as of late, it remains inaccessible to many. Generative AI changes that.
Concerns With Using Generative AI
While generative AI may seem like a dream come true, it’s the reality that the healthcare industry faces today. That said, it’s understandable to have some concerns about generative AI as with any innovation. Some have voiced their concerns about medical malpractice, while others are concerned about the misinformation provided by large language models. These concerns are understandable and are being addressed in the development of artificial intelligence. While it’s certainly far from perfect, there’s certainly an opportunity for growth.
In Conclusion
One thing’s for sure, the AI seems like it’s here to stay. With all companies, big and small, hopping on the artificial intelligence train, many industries are poised to benefit from this innovation – including the healthcare industry.
From advancements in medical imaging to personalizing treatment plans, generative AI, when used ethically, can improve patient outcomes.
While the developments haven’t fully come to fruition yet, they’re expected to come sooner than later – as with any rapidly-evolving field such as artificial intelligence.
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