AI ain’t got nothing on me
Dr Ankit Sharma
MBBS, MD
DM (Onco-Anesthesia, AIIMS New Delhi)
Author – Chhoti-Chhoti Magar Khoti Batain (available on Amazon)
Keywords: artificial intelligence, medical errors, human judgement
AI is the new ‘in’ thing currently. Right from making you want to upgrade your phone to threatening your job, AI and the discussion around it is here to stay. Apparently, it shall slowly but surely take over almost all the jobs in the world. Fortunately though, the list will also include Influencers’ jobs. The perception is that if you don’t upgrade your skills or are not Michael Phelps, you’ll find it difficult to stay afloat in the job market in coming years.
And that’s the point where I, albeit for the first time in my life since 2008, feel bloated with confidence. The reason is that for the first time in life since entering MBBS, I’ve felt that all these past years have amounted to something other than premature greying of hair and generalized irritability. I feel, and it may well be an unpopular opinion, that AI can’t take away a Doctor’s job. Well, it can, but I doubt it’ll be able to do justice to it.
Even if it does a good or even a better job than doctors, medicine is much more than just diagnosing and dispensing medicine or operating on a patient. It is also about listening patiently, empathizing intently and creating a general perception that we, the medical professionals, will do everything in our power to take away all your money and most of your blood.
I mean, look at the challenges AI will face! It’s too easy to label a fever and a rash as an infection, or a mass as a tumour. Of course AI can diagnose that, but so can a well-read final year MBBS or the local villager dispensing paracetamol-dexamethasone-ranitidine powder combination with absolute disregard for logic or scientific acumen. On a good day, even a Bengali Tantrik Baba will have a 70% diagnostic success.
But can AI even try to ‘understand’ a patient? What would it register if a patient complains of nothing else but abnormal sensations. You know, sensations like sarsarahat, sansanahat, gudgudahat, dagmagahat, farfarahat, thartharahat, kapkapahat, bharbharahat, dapdapahat, chatpatahat, sugbugahat, kulbulahat, gudgudayee, chilpilayee, chul- you get my point, right? Can the AI guess palpitations/arrhythmia or even neuropathy when faced with terms like head-to-toe shararat and full body hararat?
No. The AI would filter out all the unnecessary details from the ‘commands’ filled into its code. It can’t lend a shoulder to cry on or change its tone to suit the conversation without sounding mechanical, it can’t hold a patient’s hand if/when the patient’s situation demands, or plan to steal a kidney if the doctor’s situation demands. All that makes it impersonal, and if there’s any bigger sin in medicine than not prescribing pantoprazole to EVERY SINGLE PATIENT that seeks your consult, it is being impersonal or showing apathy towards your patient.
Ok, maybe that’s not a fair comparison. AI will not replace the warmth or the occasionally inappropriate nature of a ‘human touch’. But “in terms of knowledge and application, it’ll be flawless”, you say? I’d say it’s very unlikely, since it AI doesn’t seem to have seniors who would have ‘marked’ the important topics beforehand. I’d love to challenge AI to an exam. Enough sleeplessness (or code malfunction), and it will also make the mistake of misreading peroneal as perineal and then go on to write about human private areas for five pages.
So, no. AI ain’t got nothing on doctors.
Sure, it won’t giggle like an idiot when it hears urological complaints or the term ‘analysis’, but can it beat the enthusiasm of a newly ordained medical intern administering CPR to a patient who’s awake and begging him/her to stop?
Sure, it can precisely and bloodlessly cut through surgical planes but can it raise the blood pressure of the anaesthetist?
Sure, it can calculate the doses of drugs and accurately titrate them to put people to sleep, but can it survive an argument with its ObGyn spouse?
Sure, it can put out books worth of information on any topic but can it write an article comparing AI and doctors for a medical magazine?
Wait, ChatGPT what?
Image source: Mangyoku, Bruno.Artificial Intelligence ushers in the era of superhuman doctors. 2017. Digital illustration. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23531340-800-artificial-intelligence-ushers-in-the-era-of-superhuman-doctors/
