- Dr. Chris Hobson, chief medical officer at Orion Health

Over the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been the prominent buzzword in healthcare. Many in the industry were quick to buy-in to the promise of AI, with many believing AI would be the end all, be all in healthcare. However, we medical professionals and technologists must be careful not to overpromise the value of AI. For instance, while this type of technology can have an incredible impact on healthcare as we know it, for it to be truly transformative, AI and machine learning (ML) tools must first be trained on “clean” and robust data that is representative of the entire population. AI that is trained on diverse image and datasets provides clinicians with accurate, reliable resources to augment decision-making and promote health equity.

With studies consistently revealing that certain AI algorithms lack representation of people of color, relying solely on these resources can exacerbate racial disparities and biases in care. An increased focus on education, awareness, and use of equitable resources can help achieve health equity and shift our perception of AI to augmented intelligence instead of artificial. AI and ML is not meant to replace humans but rather to be an assistive tool that helps providers overcome knowledge gaps and provide equal and consistent care to all populations.

- Art Papier, MD, CEO of VisualDx

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