We have been hearing the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) for quite some time now. The very thought about AI gives us an impression of robots, machines, and computer-related or generated activities.
Minsky and McCarthy are known as the fathers of this field. They define AI as “artificial intelligence as any task performed by a program or a machine that, if a human carried out the same activity, we would say the human had to apply intelligence to accomplish the task”. Now that we know what is artificial intelligence, let us find out something more about it.
What is (AI) Machine Learning in Healthcare?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is much more than just robotics and using intelligence to carry out certain activities by machines. These days, it has found a wide application in many fields. It has immensely helped the healthcare sector as well.
This is exactly what we will catch a glimpse of in the paragraphs that follow.
So, what is AI in Healthcare? AI in healthcare encompasses accessing huge or bulk data by medical professionals like doctors and hospitals. It includes data that can prove to be life-saving for a number of patients undergoing treatment for different disorders.
It usually includes data related to various modes of treatment, prognosis, outcome, survival rates, recovery speed, etc. Data related to the above is taken into account on the basis of geographical locations, demography, across the globe. Also, if you analyze, artificial intelligence has wide applications in trends existing or past trends that prevailed in the healthcare industry as well.
Related Article: What is Artificial Intelligence? Future of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence companies are mushrooming almost everywhere across the globe. They have a broad spectrum of applications to invest in. While some companies embrace the healthcare sector, others diversify into other areas like biotechnology, travel tourism, education, etc.
It will not be wrong to say that AI startups are doing brisk business in their own domains following the implementation of AI techniques in running their business operations, regardless of whether it is healthcare or any other sector.
AI companies in healthcare
AI companies that have invested in healthcare or for that matter in other sectors have reaped fairly good benefits from the technology. Also, they have flourished better as compared to their competitors that still have not embraced it.
David B. Agus, who is a professor at the University Of Southern California Keck School Of Medicine, has an example to cite regarding the application of AI in healthcare. According to him “A study came out recently that showed that if you have ovarian cancer, and you happen to also be on a beta-blocker-a drug that [can be] used for blood pressure-you lived four-and-a-half years longer. This is an observation we would never have come up with through biology. Big data shows us. Now [this finding] needs to go to a big trial to see if it’s real”. Agus states that “Algorithms and AI have been around for a while, but we’re learning how to better collect and organize the data”. He also says “This past decade was about molecular biology: We sequenced DNA and looked at its association, and that was exciting. This is going to be the decade of data”.
