The healthcare industry is using artificial intelligence to elevate patient care and alleviate administrative burdens on a wide scale, with 79% of healthcare organizations reporting that they have adopted AI technology in some capacity, according to a study commissioned by Microsoft.
It’s important to remember that the idea of a sentient and self-aware AI capable of offering healthcare on its own is still science fiction. While current AI applications in healthcare can help improve clinical efficiency, advance research efforts and aid in precision surgery, they are tools designed to enhance human work.
“With AI, we don’t replace intelligence,” says Jason Warrelmann, vice president of healthcare industry at UiPath. “We replace the extra hours spent doing tasks on the computer.”
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What Is AI in Healthcare?
AI in healthcare is categorized in two ways; the first is based on a system type’s functionality. But all AI is not created equal.
The predominant system type in use today utilizes limited memory. These machines build on available data to learn and make predictions. The most well-known example of a limited memory system is ChatGPT.
The second categorization is by level of intelligence. All current AI tools have artificial narrow intelligence, which means they are designed to perform only specific functions.
More advanced system types — with artificial general intelligence or superintelligence that enables the machine to understand human emotions or have desires of its own — are strictly theoretical.