Being a doctor is one of the jobs expected to be least at risk from AI replacement. But a new program launched in Utah is raising questions over that assumption. A healthcare startup will begin offering AI examinations and prescriptions to patients without direct human oversight, making Utah the first state to replace a doctor with an AI.
The good news is that the program is currently very limited in its scope. It’s just one year long and only for patients with mild-to-moderate acne.
The process works when a person signs up for Nolla Health’s $4.99-per-month app and uses it to scan their face. After completing a medical history and personal information form, the AI analyzes their skin, identifies the acne problem, rates the skin’s oiliness, and then generates a numerical acne severity score that ranges between clear skin and severe acne, reports Bloomberg.
As someone who works in biotech, and who has more than a few friends who work in medicine and clinical settings: this is absolutely going to kill people.
And this is different from the normal US healthcare system how?
Normally there is a human in the loop. That is the specific difference, and it is a real and crucial difference.
I get that you’re being pithy and taking a cheap shot at the US healthcare system, and it deserves to have cheap shots taken at it, but this is a whole brave new frontier of “incredibly fucked”.
they are already doing it in dental offices, and its already “misdiagnosing” people with fake teeth damage.