New studies tout AI’s supremacy to the human eye. But what about the risks?

Artificial intelligence supremacy has become a hot topic in recent weeks in the medical community. This week, the journal Science Translational Medicine published research on the advancements of AI in the detection of bowel cancer.

Researchers have created new AI that helps spot cancer in earlier stages. A team at the Huazhong University of Science in Technology in China developed the system. They say that this cancer type is most treatable at the stage before it spreads elsewhere n the body. While colonoscopy has been the best way to determine and diagnose this cancer type, AI might allow better screening of the markers that indicate cancer.

Artificial Intelligence Supremacy in Cancer Detection

The journal publication comes the same week an article that showed Google’s artificial intelligence supremacy in detecting breast cancer. A new study in Nature showed that Google’s AI system could spot cancer better than radiologists and reduce the number of false positives and negatives.

“The system produced a 1.2% reduction of false positives in the U.K. and a 5.7% reduction in the U.S,” a report states in USA Today. “It was able to reduce false negatives by 2.7% in the U.K. and 9.4% in the U.S.”

Is AI Worth the Risk?

While the hype around AI remains high, some are questioning how this transformative technology aligns with the tech industry’s “fail fast” model. Others are concerned that regulations won’t be able to keep up with advancements.

Finally, there is a reason to explore incorrect deductions by AI that could put patients at risk.

In one famous flow, AI incorrectly concluded that people who suffer from pneumonia have a lower probability of death if they have asthma.

As Liz Szabo explains, that could have led doctors to deprive asthma patients of care as needed. The author explores the broader ethical challenge ahead and the balance between the pursuit of financial gains and healthcare. The conclusion is that AI systems can create more false positives than a lot of people think. You don’t see those in the headlines.

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