AI and healthcare

Applications of AI in healthcare, from bedside robots to a second opinion from an algorithm.

Welcome to the track about AI and Healthcare.

In this track, you will be introduced to a special form of AI: deep learning. But first, we have a few questions for you.

Say there is a population study into a certain eye disease.

You go to the hospital where a photo is taken of your eye...

Once the photo has been taken, you are given a choice.

You can have the photo assessed either by an eye doctor or by an AI system. Research shows that both methods are equally reliable.

What do others think about this?

Six months later, it's time for your check-up.

Now, research shows that the AI system makes the correct diagnosis more often than the eye doctor. So the system is even better than the doctor.

Healthcare and AI

So, what are the possibilities for AI in healthcare? We asked Gerard Schouten (Fontys).

As Gerard already said: AI systems are really good at assessing photos.

If you have a new iPhone, you'll know that you can only use it if it recognises your face. That's AI too! But how does that work exactly? The answer: deep learning.

Deep learning is family of machine learning, but this technology can analyse way more data.

Using this technology, so much data can be analysed that systems even discover patterns that trained people would very probably miss.

Deep learning is another name for 'neural networks'.

Just as in your brain, deep learning processes information across several layers. Professor Cees Snoek (University of Amsterdam) explains.

Deep learning and healthcare

When you read about major breakthroughs in the field of AI, it usually concerns image recognition. Deep learning is simply really good at that. And since we have a lot of photos in healthcare, that's also where you see a lot of innovations.

Examples from professional practice: Philips

One example of how AI can help in healthcare comes from Philips. Eva Cleven went to see them in their Experience Center in Best.

End of Track #4.

You've reached the end of the track about AI in healthcare and now have a much better idea of how AI is used in practice in an important sector. You also now know that deep learning is much used in healthcare to assess images such as X-rays and MRI scans. In the next track, we'll take a little trip into the business world.

Track 4 completed!

NEXT UP: AI in Business

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