1. Generative AI is increasingly being utilized in healthcare by both Big Tech firms and startups to personalize patient intake experiences, analyze medical databases, and triage messages to care providers.
2. Prominent generative AI startups in healthcare include Ambience Healthcare, Nabla, and Abridge, with significant venture capital investments in this sector.
3. However, there are concerns about the readiness of generative AI in healthcare due to limitations in handling complex medical queries, making errors in diagnosis, perpetuating stereotypes, and privacy and security concerns surrounding medical data.
Generative AI is evolving in healthcare, with big tech firms and startups working on tools like image, text, and video analysis for personalized patient experiences. Examples include Google Cloud partnering with Highmark Health, Amazon’s AWS analyzing medical databases, and Microsoft Azure triaging messages for Providence. Startups like Ambience Healthcare and Nabla are developing AI apps and assistants for clinicians.
Investments in generative AI for healthcare have increased, but there are mixed opinions on its readiness. A Deloitte survey showed that only half of consumers see potential benefits in terms of accessibility and affordability of healthcare. Concerns exist around generative AI’s limitations, such as its inability to handle complex medical queries or emergencies.
Studies have shown errors in diagnosis and limitations in tasks like summarizing patient records with current generative AI models. There are also concerns about perpetuating biases and stereotypes in healthcare, with potential harm to patient care and outcomes. Some experts see improvement in generative AI accuracy through software engineering techniques.
Researchers have proposed generative AI solutions for medical imaging, potentially improving diagnostic accuracy and workflow efficiency. However, there are technical, compliance, privacy, and security concerns that need to be addressed before widespread adoption of generative AI in healthcare. The World Health Organization has released guidelines advocating rigorous science, oversight, and impact assessments for the use of generative AI in healthcare to ensure patient safety.