AI, Chatbots and The Future of Medicine

Back in 1996 the leaders of medicine gathered in Washington D.C. at the IOM headquarters to discuss something revolutionary and important: health information becoming available to the public on the web. I was probably the youngest person in the room. One of the doctors I revered stood and addressed the assembled crowd, telling us that the Internet is dangerous, the risks are too great, and we should warn all patients never to look up health information or answers to their health questions online. Applause filled the room. When the room quieted, I stood. I had already been answering questions at DrGreene.com since 1995 and putting the best of what I knew online. I said that people searching the web for answers to their health questions was absolutely inevitable. It would soon be unthinkable not to learn online. Our job was to help create and point to reliable information online – and to teach how to find, judge, and use it wisely. It was to open doors, not close them. That was then. Now there’s a new kind of doctor coming to town. It will be there to help when your child wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. It will reassure you when you’re in pain and scared and don’t know what to do. It might even be able to figure out diagnosis and treatment options for you down the road. But it won’t be human. The wave of chatbots is on its way to health, and I’m very excited about it. You may have interacted with a customer support chatbot...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - Category: Child Development Authors: Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog AI Chatbot Future of Medicine Source Type: blogs