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From Science Fiction to Science: AI and the Future of Healthcare

By Diego Garza - Intel Mexico
Channel Scale and Partners Director

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By Diego Garza | Channel Scale and Partners Director - Fri, 10/14/2022 - 11:00

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How unreasonable would it sound to hear that humans, specifically the next generation of Mexicans (our kids, nephews, and grandkids), will have the chance to live to an age of 150-plus years in the near future?

Although that would mean doubling today's life expectancy, incredibly enough, it has already happened over the last 100 years, when longevity in Mexico drastically increased from 32 years in 1925 to 75 years in 2022.  

Today, expecting to live twice what our recent ancestors did feels almost natural, to the point we have forgotten that humans have not changed that much in the last couple of millenniums and it is only through technology and human ingenuity that we keep bending the limits of life and health. 

This torrid pace of evolution is impossible to understand without thinking about extraordinary innovations that have improved people's well-being, featuring almost god-like technologies that, in the future, will be able to solve any disease, injury, or minor discomfort that we will all eventually experience. The promise of that future is closer than we might imagine; however, to get there, it is essential to work on significant challenges to harmonize current problems with the best technology for the benefit of all people.  

The COVID-19 pandemic was undoubtedly the most recent reality check that highlighted the current global healthcare landscape and exposed the industry's blunders and opportunities. While dealing with the pandemic, some other challenges became evident; more than 2.5 million deaths a year occurred due to failures in hospital care and 41 million due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and diabetes, according to recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO). A faster pace of services digitalization can help with this. 

Health systems are essential to any country's sustainable development; therefore, we should urgently enhance them with technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). In the coming years, the IT industry needs to work hand in hand with the healthcare industry to achieve three things: increase reach and easy access to medical services for everyone, ensure a data-centric approach in decision-making and research, and ensure dignified and sustainable human-oriented treatments. 

But still, we have a long road ahead of us since half of the world's population lacks access to essential treatments, as shown by WHO data. Including AI as part of the tools for hospitals will facilitate outreach and quality medical care for patients, regardless of their location, in addition to overcoming current problems such as high costs, misdiagnosis, administrative failures, and ineffective interventions. 

Although the road is long, the healthcare industry is making progress: Global AI investment in this sector will reach $36 billion by 2025 to improve access, reduce costs and enhance hospital care, according to the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF). This is a good indicator of the value of boosting the adoption of this technology to revolutionize the patient's experience and streamline human experts' capabilities. 

Human decision-making will never be infallible but it is certainly possible to reduce the number of errors with the assistance of AI systems adding the ability to consider many more variables in patient diagnoses and treatments, thus making medical interventions safer and more accurate.  

A case in point is the work of Intel Labs and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Medicine), which are developing AI models that identify brain tumors through extensive data collection that would be nearly impossible for a physician to achieve while protecting confidential patient data using federated learning. 

This case has two factors of great relevance. The first is the potential to diagnose a brain tumor in cohorts of thousands of people by training and building an AI model that could help in early detection and better outcomes, translating the learnings and technology to different medical solutions. The other is that data must remain private and protected, so federated learning brings human dignity by allowing organizations to collaborate and learn without sharing patient data.

Another of the many advantages of AI in healthcare is the ability to save time by developing drugs and solutions in more reliable ways. Now, through machine learning, it is possible to do computer simulations instead of performing risky tests in actual conditions, making it easier to develop drugs quickly in emergencies to preserve the lives of many more patients. One real-world example is Google DeepMind's AlphaFold2, which leverages AI to predict effective protein forms for new drugs.

As leaders in the technology industry, we are already working to gain a deep understanding of the needs of physicians, researchers, and patients to drive the future of AI-enabled healthcare. Moreover, we need to collaborate closely with government and education institutions to incorporate a technological perspective in the training and education of medical professionals. They are the ones who have a better view of how to impact a patient's life positively and will use these tools promptly. 

The more technology we use as part of our health systems, the faster it will be to solve the unknown (but inevitable) future and emerging challenges and it is only with the help of AI that extending human life expectancy will be a matter of science and not science fiction. 

Photo by:   Diego Garza

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