AI Will Not Replace Jobs, It Will Replace Tasks

There are certain dates in our personal history that we hold dear forever. One of my all-time favorites is April 9, 2013. On that day, Mamotest made its first teleradiology transmission from Saenz Peña, a rural town in the northeast of Argentina, to our inaugural diagnostics center in the nearby city of Corrientes. Until then, mammograms went on a road trip of their own: a car would make the weekly rounds in Saenz Peña to pick up the studies, then brave the not-so-smooth 180km route to reach Corrientes, where expert radiologists could evaluate the printed images and finally send their conclusions — written down on paper, of course — back to Saenz Peña.

And so, on April 9, 2013, that costly, time-consuming and precarious process was replaced by one of the most groundbreaking innovations of human civilization: the internet. I must confess, with not little embarrassment, that at that point I truly believed we had radically changed the fate of women with breast cancer. And, to be fair, we did: In our first decade of existence, over 650,000 patients in Latin America have accessed oncological treatments on time thanks to our telediagnostics services.

However, little did I know in 2013 that, if we really wanted to democratize access to high-quality medicine, adding new technologies to the equation was just the tip of the iceberg. As the years went by and experience piled up, it became ever more evident that the key to our success was much more based on our capacity to deeply understand these patients' realities (not just physical but psychological, emotional, social, and economic, among others) as well as the functioning of the healthcare system — inefficient and fragmented — in order to use all our empathy and creativity to come up with real-world solutions. And indeed, while technology could offer an answer to certain issues, more often than not, it all boiled down to the power of human touch. It was a hard lesson to learn, but eventually, we realized that there was no real solution in giving a rural woman her breast cancer diagnosis if she had no means or access to navigate the complicated healthcare system of a big city where she was supposed to get her treatment. And there was no cutting-edge technology from Silicon Valley that could bridge that gap.

So a few years ago, when Mamotest pivoted to become an AI-based digital solution, I’d dare say 90% of our time and efforts during that transformational process were devoted to making the patient feel supported, well informed, and safe. This meant that, while developing our fullstack platform that works hand-in-hand with patients to help them reach completion of their treatments on time, we realized that no app on a phone could replace the impact of another person's voice and full presence. That is why we included the role of Health Navigators at the core of the patient experience: female professionals with a psycho-oncologic and medical background, who are dedicated to personally follow each particular case via video and phone calls.

It is only through our human-centered approach, based on genuine trust and engagement, that we are able to work with high volumes of patients and collect 30 key anonymized data points per patient, which is creating the most extensive and accurate health datasets in Latin America to date. We refer to this initiative as “data for good,” as it has the potential to reduce time, costs, and efforts in creating policies, drugs, access to treatments, clinical trial enrollment, and many other vital strategies aimed at significantly decreasing breast cancer death rates.

For example, thanks to our recent partnership with Unimed in Brazil, the world’s largest health cooperative with over 18 million patients, we are on the verge of developing the country’s first algorithm for breast imaging interpretation assistance. This algorithm will be tailored to the real data of Brazilian women, showcasing our commitment to a profound and genuine understanding of their specific needs. These needs differ from those of women in, for instance, Korea or Germany, due to a variety of factors — ethnic, geographical, socio-historical — that uniquely combine in each corner of the world. 

The ongoing development of this algorithm — a project we intend to replicate in Mexico in 2024 — involves close collaboration with Mamotest’s team of expert radiologists and data scientists, as well as Johnson & Johnson’s data scientists, ensuring that we excel in boosting efficiency and lowering costs without compromising high-quality treatment. These radiologists will also be the ones who, in the near future, will be assisted in their daily work by the same AI they helped create. A virtuous circle that proves that technology is not here to replace medical professionals but rather to complement and facilitate their performance in equal measure.

I understand the doubts and fears that people have when it comes to the pulse-pounding development of AI; however, I am certain of this: AI will not replace jobs, just tasks. 

It is a big “just,” though: Professionals must be ready to evolve, too, and accept the fact that an artificial intelligence will be joining them in their daily work. But hasn’t that been, after all, our ongoing challenge as humans? From the wheel to the printing press, to automobiles to telephones, every big innovation has pushed us forward and, in a way, also brought us back to the very same issues and dilemmas: How can we better the lives of millions, now billions, of people? I am convinced that it can help us build a better, healthier world. However, AI is an enhancer, not our savior. It is up to us to take this opportunity and make the best of it.