Most of the time, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is discussed with respect to how it will make our technology devices better, how it'll usher in driverless cars, or even how dangerous it could be for warfare. But AI capabilities could also drastically improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare.
Algorithms, image recognition technology, natural-language processing, and other AI technologies could end up making our healthcare cheaper, speed up the time it takes to develop new drugs, and even help diagnose diseases in collaboration with doctors. Here's how.
It takes pharmaceutical companies an average of 10 to 15 years to discover and develop a new drug. Some companies, including International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), believe that AI can drastically reduce the time to find new drugs by sifting through vast amounts of genetic and clinical data.
IBM says that its Watson for Drug Discovery uses natural-language processing to "read millions of pages" and comprehend contextual meaning in the research.
In one recent instance, the Barrow Neurological Institute used Watson for Drug Discovery to find unidentified genes and proteins that may be linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Within a few months, Watson discovered five RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that had never before been associated with ALS.
"Overall, we successfully used IBM Watson to help identify additional RBPs altered in ALS, highlighting the use of artificial intelligence tools to accelerate scientific discovery in ALS and possibly other complex neurological disorders," researchers at Barrow noted in a paper recently published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica.
Some drugmakers are already betting on this type of AI. Last year, GlaxoSmithKline said the time it takes to target a disease and then find a molecule to fight it could be reduced from five and a half years to just one year. The company told Reuters that not only will AI help reduce the time it takes to develop drugs, but it could also reduce their costs.
A team of pathologists at Harvard recently created an AI system to help them more precisely diagnose breast cancer. The AI technique helped the doctors increase their accuracy from 96% to 99.5%. That slight percentage increase is notable, because it means an additional 68,000 to 130,000 women will receive more accurate diagnoses each year.
Similarly, IBM's Watson for Genomics has been tested by oncologists at the University of North Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
