"AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
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Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#2One related publication that I thought would have fit well into the comment about disparate pain treatment is this[1] from Ziad Obermeyer's group. They found that when they trained a model using patient pain and knee X-rays, much of the disparity in symptoms could be accounted for by findings from the X-rays themselves. It's a nice example of where using the patients' symptoms and objective data may actually outperform current medical standards, which fits with her participatory comments in the final paragraph.
Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#3Saying you'll cure cancer with AI without specifying the type of cancer is like declaring you'll solve crime with Batman. Way too broad to be useful, but makes a good headline.
Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#4The article, while talking about some very real problems, seems to be completely unrelated to the question of whether or not AI is likely to have that capability in the near/mid future (which is what the title implies).
Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#5Saying "AI will cure cancer" is like saying "science will cure cancer" or "doctors will cure cancer". In general, all three statements are true about technological progress.
> Second, AI is used to disproportionately benefit the privileged while worsening inequality.
That's bullshit. Computers and other gadgets always start out as toys of the rich, but they quickly trickle down to everyone else. Compare the multi-thousand dollar cell phone of the 80s use by the rich to the multi-dollar cell phones of today used by billions. I don't mind if billionaires spend their money on AI now so that the R&D results in cheap AI in a decade that can be used by everyone.
The author also goes and lists people harmed by computer problems without provide a benchmark of the number of people similarly harmed by human problems.
Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#6[flagged]
Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#7Saying you'll cure cancer with AI without specifying the type of cancer is like declaring you'll solve crime with Batman. Way too broad to be useful, but makes a good headline.
Also saying “AI will cure cancer” is like saying “our children will solve climate change”.
I mean on the surface it seems like the answer is “yeah, probably”, but you’re saying nothing of how exactly.
Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#8Was expecting a deep dive into cancer therapeutics and startups working in the space.
This is not that.
very misleading title given how diverse AI applications are in medicine.
Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#9Sad to hear of Ilene Ruhoy’s experience here.
She is a wonderful clinician who has enormously helped other patients with complex diagnostic paths and with diagnoses that are severely neglected.
Re: "AI will cure cancer" misunderstands both AI and medicine
#10The predominate view of AI is that it is essentially magic. Which of course couldn’t be further from the truth.
But I find these arguments much easier to understand if you look at it through that lens. Of course magic can cure cancer because… it’s magic!