AI Apocalypse In Medicine? Three Scenarios From Ugly to Utopia – The Medical Futurist Newsletter

What the future holds This week, I found [a beautiful MRI scan]( of neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe cradling and tenderly kissing her 2-month-old son Percy. What a heartwarming reminder of what truly matters, even in this era of scientific advancement. Speaking of science. We [created an infographic]( of the steep rise in PubMed publications on machine learning and deep learning. No wonder AI dominates discussions in medicine these days. And finally, a huge thank you for your incredible support! We recently celebrated 100,000 YouTube subscribers, a milestone ten years in the making. Now, just three months later, [we've reached 150,000](. I'm truly blown away and so grateful for this amazing community. I hope you will find the newsletter useful! Best regards, Berci Bertalan Meskó, PhD The Medical Futurist [AI IN MEDICINE: 3 FUTURE SCENARIOS FROM UTOPIA TO DYSTOPIA]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Ever find yourself pondering about the future of healthcare, with artificial intelligence either as our best mate or our malevolent overlord? We all do. And let’s face it, the reality is somewhere in between those Hollywood extremes. But where exactly? First, let's map out the extremes to find the realistic middle ground and then determine the steps we need to take now to build a good future and avoid the nightmare scenarios. [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? There are so many proverbs about the useless nature of daydreaming that many of us feel a pang of guilt when contemplating the future. Yet, “dreaming well” yields achievable, valuable outcomes. [WINNING THE BATTLE AGAINST OBESITY – DIGITAL HEALTH VISIONS]( --------------------------------------------------------------- We have digital health tools and knowledge available to combat obesity. Still, there is a huge gap between what would be possible if we used these for their maximum potential and the everyday reality. Following the example of our imaginary friend Kate, let’s see what the ideal scenario would look like, and how much we could achieve if the processes, systems, and workflows were designed to make the most of the tools we already have. [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? With over 2.5 billion overweight people on planet Earth, we need to deploy everything we have to fight the obesity pandemic. [GENERATIVE AI BASICS: LEARN THE ESSENTIALS IN JUST 1-2 HOURS!]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Building easy-to-cross bridges to the world of AI is essential - that is why this fast-track course aims to provide a hands-on introduction to generative AI in the time you have a cup or two of your favorite tea or coffee. If you want to learn the basics without committing substantial amounts of time, this is for you. Give it a try, and let us know, what you think! [ENROLL HERE]( [CROWDSTRIKE OUTAGE HITS US HOSPITALS]( --------------------------------------------------------------- I'm sure many of you suffered the consequences of the CrowdStrike outage last week that led to thousands of flights canceled and businesses closed for hours. It seems it also heavily affected hospitals. Health systems, including CommonSpirit Health and Cleveland Clinic, were locked out of Windows systems. The American Hospital Association was aware of the outage and in touch with the federal government about the situation. [READ MORE]( WHY IT'S IMPORTANT? Providing healthcare now entirely depends on technologies from the most common operating systems to even wearables. Imagine how complex it is going to become with the widespread of AI. [VIDEO: WILL AI REPLACE DOCTORS?]( --------------------------------------------------------------- The rapid integration of AI across industries has sparked widespread concern about job displacement, and let’s be frank healthcare is no exception. Many wonder if AI will eventually render physicians' jobs obsolete. I firmly believe AI won't replace doctors, and in this video, I’ll outline five reasons why. [WATCH THE VIDEO]( WHY IT'S IMPORTANT? My reasoning circles back to our first article: the human connection between patients and healthcare providers is a fundamental part of healing. [IF A BOT RELATIONSHIP FEELS REAL, SHOULD WE CARE THAT IT'S NOT?]( --------------------------------------------------------------- As large language models become more sophisticated at having conversations with us, we will develop relationships with them whether we want it or not (it's in our social DNA). MIT sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle calls these relationships with technology "artificial intimacy". Currently, he is examining how far these emotional connections can go and why we are becoming so attached to insentient machines. [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? The trouble with this is that when we seek out relationships of no vulnerability, we forget that vulnerability is really where empathy is born. [POLICY FOR THE FUTURE: THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT FUTURES PRIMER]( --------------------------------------------------------------- I'm incredibly happy to share this document from the Australian Government about how they approach future strategies. "This primer provides an overview of Futures methodologies and their practical application to policy development and advice. It is a first step for policy teams and officers interested in Futures: providing you with a range of flexible tools, ideas and advice you can adapt to your own policy challenges and environments." [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? My mission as The Medical Futurist is to democratize futures methods. It's amazing to see this message come across from a government. MORE NEWS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE --------------------------------------------------------------- SHAMA LAMA – [Introducing Llama 3.1: Meta's most capable model to date]( AI RESIDENTS – [Doctors Should Think of AI as a Medical Student]( NO ORIGAMI – [Language Models and Spatial Reasoning: What’s Good, What Is Still Terrible, and What Is Improving]( NONINVASIVE STIMULATION – [Ultrasound tech can boost mindfulness]( [color-forwardtofriend-48.png](mailto:berci@medicalfuturist.com) [color-facebook-48.png]( [color-youtube-48.png]( [color-linkedin-48.png]( [color-twitter-48.png]( [color-instagram-48.png]( © The Medical Futurist 2024 This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Medical Futurist · Budapest · Budapest, Pest 1118 · Hungary