- Ryan Heath || Axios
Machine learning can bring us cancer diagnoses with greater speed and precision than any individual doctor — but it could also bring us another pandemic at the hands of a relatively low-skilled programmer.
Why it matters: The health field is generating some of the most exciting artificial intelligence innovation, but AI can also weaponize modern medicine against the same people it sets out to cure.
Driving the news: The World Health Organization is warning about the risks of bias, misinformation and privacy breaches in the deployment of large language models in healthcare.
- WHO officials worry that datasets which do not fully reflect the population can generate misleading or inaccurate information.
- There is a 1 in 300 chance of an individual being harmed throughout the patient journey, most often through data error, per WHO research.
The big picture: As this technology races ahead, everyone — companies, government and consumers — has to be clear-eyed that it can both save lives and cost lives.
What’s happening: AI in health is delivering speed, accuracy and cost dividends — from quicker vaccines to helping doctors outsmart killer heart conditions.
- Next, it’s set to help beat the trickiest cancers and boost rates of IVF success.
- But disaster is sometimes only one click or security breach away.
