Recently, Dr Granot gave a presentation at the Royal Australasian College of Physician Congress 2021 about Artificial Intelligence: Ready or not Here it Comes. In it, he discussed the emerging role of technology, particularly machine learning and artificial intelligence in medicine in the coming years.
In the panel discussion, there was a lively debate about how such algorithms will make their way into day-to-day medical practice, including the importance of making the integration into doctors’ workflow seamless; the importance of significant value add into patient care; as well as the importance of “Explainable AI”, which emphasises being able to understand how the machine learning model works to the outside observer (not being a black box, in other words).
Dr Granot’s final message in this regard was:
Our technology is still developing, but growing more potent by the day. It still requires large amounts of representative digital data, but as more data is digitised and correlated to outcomes, the more broadly useful it can get. Currently, it starts small, narrow and task-specific (in radiology primarily, but increasingly dermatology, ophthalmology and pathology). But with more data and technology, will become broader and more helpful.
We should consider incorporating as a partner our new AI technologies. A properly developed and deployed AI, experts say, will be akin to the cavalry riding in to help beleaguered physicians struggling with unrelenting workloads, high administrative burdens, and a tsunami of new clinical data.
Ron Granot, RACP Congress April 2021.