Artificial intelligence’s greatest contribution may be in health care, and China is leading the way
Andy Chun says China’s early investments in hi-tech medical services are likely to pay off in meeting the health care needs of its massive population, especially as society ages
The plan calls for the development of a whole gamut of AI-related health care technologies, such as intelligent diagnosis, wearables, AI health monitoring, robot-assisted surgery, intelligent medical image recognition and medical genomics with a strong emphasis on elderly care.
Last year, the China Food and Drug Administration included AI diagnostic tools on its list of permitted medical devices. In May, China established a national Chinese Intelligent Medicine Association as a platform for research, exchange and cooperation in AI for health care.
I believe there are three key areas: deep learning to analyse medical images, cognitive computing to capture and apply medical knowledge and AI analytics to provide continuous health monitoring.
The medical profession is particularly well suited to the use of AI. Medical doctors rely greatly on perceptual senses, like vision and hearing, to gather information about patient health. Artificial neural network approaches such as deep-learning are ideal for exactly this type of work.
Watch: A robot ‘doctor’ has passed China’s medical licensing exam
The other skill important in medicine is the ability to learn, recall and apply vast amounts of medical textbook knowledge and keep up to date with the newest medical research/journals and pharmaceutical products. AI can use natural language processing and machine learning to read and understand millions of online documents, as well as millions of data points to help diagnose and recommend treatment.
Researchers in China are also using AI to capture general medical knowledge. For example, iFlyTek and Tsinghua University successfully created an AI system that not only passed last year’s Chinese medical licensing exam but also scored better than 96 per cent of exam takers. The exam not only tested breadth of knowledge, but also ability to understand intricate connections between facts and use them to make decisions.
Because of more affordable health care wearables that track activities and heart rate, consumers are taking responsibility in monitoring their own health. According to Tractica’s forecast, annual wearable device shipments will increase from 118 million units in 2016 to 430 million units by 2022.
This increased use of wearables means a lot of daily health data will be available online. Big data and AI predictive analytics can continuously monitor and alert users of abnormalities, and before the outset of more major medical problems.
AI relies greatly on data for machine learning and predictive analytics, and China has no shortage, with its population generating massive amounts of real-time medical data. The Chinese population is eager to use technology and adopt AI. China is also unique in its approach to health care that leverages both Western and traditional Chinese medicine.
With increased use of AI, combined with readily available medical and biometric data, China is on its way to providing quality personalised health care to more people at a lower cost, while keeping people healthier through continuous monitoring and alerts. With fewer people getting sick, the workloads for hospitals and medical staff will be reduced. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation, as the saying goes.
Dr Andy Chun is an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong and convenor of the AI Specialist Group, Hong Kong Computer Society