AI in medicine: where are we?

Artificial intelligence has entered our lives and the fields of application of this technology are increasingly numerous. Medicine seems to be one of the areas in which AI can enter in a more disruptive way, with uses ranging from the diagnosis of diseases to the use of autonomous robots for routine surgical interventions, albeit under the supervision of a man.

Excessive enthusiasm, however, can also lead to numerous risks and dangers: when we talk about technologies so impacting, especially in a sector as sensitive as ethical, it is essential to ask questions and consider all the factors at stake, without underestimating the implications ethical and social. To clarify the state of the art and the future perspectives of artificial intelligence associated with medicine, the Fondazione Bruno Kesler organized a meeting with Paolo Miccoli, surgeon and President of the ANVUR Management Board, the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and of research.

“The theme of artificial intelligence – said Miccoli – is entering forcefully into scientific production. Today the AI in medicine already has a big impact: we can think of having a fully automated diagnosis, which allows reducing errors drastically, even in the choice of therapeutic protocols. Here we are already because we ask the machines to perform a very specific task. On other aspects, however, we are still very far: a completely robotic surgery, without even the doctor’s control, need for a “general” artificial intelligence, or even higher. At this point, we have not yet arrived and we are not even close. An intervention of this kind in their lives will perhaps see him younger, I will not see him for sure.