Headlines about artificial intelligence often blare big promises and underscore the breakneck pace of this evolving technology.
Within the field of healthcare and medical research, the application of AI is likewise focused on the possibilities – only in a more measured approach. The marriage is solidly anchored in improving results for both patient and provider.
“I think there are a lot of conversations about AI replacing your doctor,” said Casey Greene, PhD, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a national expert on computational biology and artificial intelligence. “I think what gets me excited is not AI replacing your doctor. It's helping your doctor spend more time with you and less time in the chart.”
Greene, also the founding director of the Center for Health AI, said that AI works well in healthcare because it integrates seamlessly into existing areas. “There’s an opportunity to assess AI’s reliability in the health sciences,” Greene said. “After its reliability is proven, it can gain that trust with both providers and patients.”
This story is the first in an ongoing series on artificial intelligence in the health sciences. The series will feature scientists and providers who are using these technologies at CU Anschutz to pursue new avenues of research and better care for patients. See other articles in series.
That trust, in Greene’s eyes, is built through both innovative thinking and deployment of these technologies to demonstrate and prove their worth in the real world – not just on the computer. That goes hand in hand with following strict data and privacy standards and using data that is representative of the patient populations being served.
In the following Q&A, Greene lays out where artificial intelligence in healthcare currently stands, future developments he sees on the horizon, as well as the opportunities – and potential pitfalls – these technologies have in store for both providers and patients.