The Impact of AI on the Health Care Industry

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly important resource for individuals and corporations. In the health care industry, there is a growing demand for AI and related technologies to assist in everything from surgery to janitorial duties. While there is the usual skepticism surrounding AI, it is important to understand how it works, its benefits, and its risk. Medically speaking, AI has the potential to aid physicians in diagnosis and treatment recommendations. The technology, however, presents issues surrounding data privacy as well as embedded biases in the algorithms used for intelligent systems. Mitigating these potential risks will be important to the successful implementation of AI in a health care setting. As artificial intelligence becomes more prominent in this space, there is a valid fear that it will result in severe job displacement and force many people out of their fields. This transition towards a more automated hospital will require many medical personnel to learn new skills and move towards jobs that require a more significant amount of empathy to thrive in the new economy. For decades, people have been worried about the effects of more automation and machinery, but we have seen that where some jobs are replaced with technology, other jobs are created. The findings of this thesis show that while AI is likely to replace some human workers, there is minimal reason to worry about complete job displacement in the near future. Long-term, the significance of AI in job replacement is more of an unknown. However, with knowledge about how artificial intelligence could be impacting us now, patients, physicians, and hospitals can better prepare and understand the impact that AI will have on each of them specifically.