I reckon about half my friends and family (many of whom read this blog) detest AI and claim they refuse to use it. Whenever I suggest that an AI doctor is the best doctor I’ve ever seen, I’m often met with disbelief. The usual refrain? “I stick to Googling my symptoms if I have to.”
The irony here is delicious. Google itself is one massive algorithm. Algorithms are a form of machine-learning. And machine-learning is a type of AI. So, when you Google your symptoms, you’re already using a weak, biased, ad-dominated form of AI. And I’ve even had doctors Google stuff in front of me, when they could be using proper AI instead.
A smarter move for patients? Do what I’ve done — and I don’t care how arrogant this sounds — and build your own AI health bot. Load it with your health data, and let it read the entire internet, every published medical study, in every language, spanning human history. It’ll take you roughly an hour to set up, and it could literally save your life. At the very least, it will improve your life, by suggesting things to do and supplements to take before you get sick.
Unless you’re planning to win the lottery so you can hire a team of consultants to monitor your every move, the prudent choice is to use AI to optimise your health.
There will always be a place for human doctors — but humans empowered by technology. Why not be a proactive patient empowered by AI, too?
