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What is Artificial Intelligence and How Does It Play a Role in Healthcare?

What is Artificial Intelligence and How Does It Play a Role in Healthcare?
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently a popular topic of discussion. The use of AI, which is considered to facilitate various human tasks, is seen as necessary to be applied in various fields, including healthcare.

 

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a collection of technologies applied to machines or computer systems. AI systems can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving. The term artificial intelligence was first mentioned in a paper by Alan Turing, a mathematician and computer researcher, titled Computing Machinery and Intelligence, which was released in 1950.

Over time, AI is expected to work by differentiating computer systems based on rationality and thinking like humans. From a human approach, artificial intelligence is expected to think and act like humans. However, to make it more logical, artificial intelligence is expected to think and act rationally.

In short, it can be concluded that artificial intelligence is a field that combines computer science and strong data sets to help solve problems.

 

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Just like human thinking, artificial intelligence is also needed in various fields, including healthcare. AI is seen to have significant potential in transforming the current healthcare system, including patient care, administrative services, payments, and pharmaceuticals.

To date, several research studies have shown that AI can work as well as or better than humans in diagnosing diseases. Several machine algorithms (sets of rules AI uses to make decisions) have outperformed radiologists in detecting malignant tumors and assisted researchers in building cohorts for costly clinical trials.

Some benefits of AI currently being developed in healthcare include:

 

1. Assisting in Disease Diagnosis

Disease diagnosis and therapy have been one of the focuses of AI from the beginning. AI is being developed in hopes that this technology can assist healthcare professionals in diagnosing diseases.

Currently, there are self-symptom check features being developed to help patients determine whether their condition is normal or requires further examination. AI systems are cognitively trained using natural language processing (a technology that helps AI systems understand and interpret human language) and machine learning (a process in which AI systems learn from large amounts of data and improve without being explicitly programmed). This technology processes data from medical literature, medical records, treatment guidelines, and laboratory reports to provide therapy recommendations.

However, AI's diagnostic and treatment recommendations are currently difficult to integrate into clinical workflows (the processes healthcare providers follow to deliver care). AI functions are still under further development.

 

2. Predicting Disease Risks

With the large amount of data in AI systems, AI is expected to help provide accurate predictions about a patient's future health. AI's machine learning models are also expected to help predict populations at risk of certain diseases.

Based on these predictions, AI can provide calculations and insights to doctors and patients about the risk of certain diseases in the future, as well as the best treatment options for patients.

 

3. Assisting with Imaging or Radiology Examinations

One of the applications of AI being developed is for radiology and imaging examinations. With AI, interpreting certain test results becomes faster and more efficient. AI systems can be trained to recognize specific images, such as a lump or nodule on a chest CT scan (a type of X-ray that takes detailed pictures of the inside of the body) or bleeding on a brain MRI (a technique that uses magnets and radio waves to create detailed images of the brain). However, AI algorithms in image recognition require millions of patient test images.

 

The biggest challenge in using AI in the medical world is ensuring that the technology can be applied in everyday clinical practice. To be widely adopted, AI systems must be approved by legal authorities and policymakers, taught to healthcare professionals, and continuously updated over time.

Experts believe that AI systems will not replace doctors or nurses on a large scale but rather help them shift toward tasks and job designs that better utilize human skills and intelligence.

 

If you need medical advice or consultation, you can visit a doctor in person or utilize the consultation features available in the Ai Care application by downloading it from the App Store or Play Store.

 

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Writer : Ratih AI Care
Editor :
  • dr. Pandu Lesmana
Last Updated : Sunday, 16 March 2025 | 18:03

Davenport, T., & Kalakota, R. (2019). The potential for artificial intelligence in healthcare. Future healthcare journal, 6(2), 94–98. https://doi.org/10.7861/futurehosp.6-2-94.

Foresee Medical. AI in healthcare. Available from: https://www.foreseemed.com/artificial-intelligence-in-healthcare.

IBM. What is artificial intelligence in healthcare?. Available from: https://www.ibm.com/id-en/topics/artificial-intelligence-healthcare.