X Prize Foundation Wants AI Physician On Every Smartphone

kkleiner writes "One of the exciting ideas being tossed around recently at the X Prize Foundation is the creation of an Artificial Intelligence physician that you could access from your smartphone. Want to know if that rash on your leg is poison ivy or smallpox? Take a photo of it with your phone and ask the AI. The possibilities are enormous, especially for the billion plus people around the world who live more than a few hours' walk or drive from the nearest doctor." This is one of four X Prizes in planning for the future. The other three are for an AI automobile driver, organ generation through stem cell use, and a deep sea submersible capable of exploring the sea floor.

Comments

Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon

[Burz]

http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/internet-makes-hypochondria-worse

Would the smartphone version be any better?

Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon

[hedwards]

Depends how it's done. If they manage to make it more of a tricorder eventually including some testing equipment or the photos are sent to somebody with knowledge hen probably not. It's not likely to replace an exam any time soon, but it would be helpful for contacting the consulting nurse as to whether or not to come in for an appointment.

But yes, if it just looks things up without any kind of smarts, then it's most likely just going to make things worse.

Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon

[Pojut]

Does anyone else find it hilarious that one of the primary contributors to Internet Hypochondria has an article about how bad Internet Hypochondria has gotten?

Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon

[Monkeedude1212]

Well - wouldn't the smart phone version be able to differentiate the diseases from common blunders?

I could see a hypochondriac using this feature to learn that "That Bump" is just a pimple.

Which, I know - doesn't usually help hypochondriacs, even a real doctor generally doesn't sway their mind. So I don't see why a smartphone app when the internet is already widely available making it any worse. (If you can find more people who own a smart phone who don't have access to the internet at least once a week than I have fingers, I'll retract my statement)

Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon

[IICV]

Exactly - the problem isn't creating an AI physician, the problem is creating an AI physician that you can't lie to blatantly. It would be trivial to create a little program that's little more than an enhanced version of those 20 question balls and runs a differential diagnosis engine; something like that would cover 90% of all diseases after a few rounds. It could show you little pictures like "do your bumps look more like this or more like this?", or any number enhancements. It would probably work incredibly well with honest, impartial patients.

The problem is, it has no way of knowing if you're lying. If you say "yes, when I press hard on this point on my belly it hurts when I let go", the thing has no way of knowing if you pressed on the right place or if it actually hurt. If there's a doctor doing that to you, they'll have a pretty good idea if it hurt.

Really, the best this thing can do is either say "you should see a doctor" or "you should take two acetaminophen and ask me again tomorrow"

Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon

[elrous0]

Don't worry, the AMA would never allow it (not in the U.S. anyway). Their main function is to protect the livelihood of their members (aka physicians). Anything that threatens their monopoly is immediately labeled a health hazard and banned in the U.S.

Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon

[Anonymous Coward]

The AMA doesn't give a damn about it's members. Like most organizations that size, it only cares about perpetuating itself.

Hmmm

[Spad]

Because having medical advice available on the internet hasn't led to people flooding GP surgeries because they're convinced their cough is actually Ebola.

Re:Hmmm

[vlm]

consulting nurse

Somehow, despite it "requiring" AI, for liability reasons, other than the most trivial of follow up issues, it'll probably end up 99% of the time as a semi-realtime nifty videoconference frontend for existing consulting nurses.

I would also anticipate some "self nursing". Rather than paying someone to glance at a sutured wound, have the patient photograph it with their cellphone and have a centralized nurse (and/or dr) review a stack of pictures at once. Rather than paying a nurse to stick a thermometer in the patients mouth (or, where ever) and wait for a result and record it, the phone might bug the patient to test himself and log his own result.

This idea of a personal universal electronic medical record is kind of interesting, compared to the corporate electronic medical records we are "sort of" seeing deployed.

The possibilities are enormous...

[Angst Badger]

...for an epidemic of medical student's disease.

How many people...

[tompaulco]

How many people in the world that live several hours walk from a doctor or hospital have smartphones? How well does that smartphone work with no coverage? I don't think they tend to put in cell towers in areas where the nearest human population complex is 30 miles away.

Uh oh

[WetCat]

Why do you need AI physician if you already have a phone? Just send a real physician (non-American, of course, because US physicians are really overpriced ones thanks to various professional insurances and malpractice lawsuits) a MMS with your views and symptoms. That will be better analyzed, anyhow.

Re:Bad idea

[sznupi]

Not available medical personel can't perform a physical exam, either (but a phone can connect one with existing personel, if that's required)

Re:As a non AI physician

[oddTodd123]

Doctors are notoriously stubborn and arrogant about their abilities, and they refuse to believe that a significant share of medical practice can be routinized to be performed by much lower skilled and educated people. From simple hand washing to using checklists, doctors have steadfastly resisted any change that implies they could be doing their job better, or that someone with less training could do the same job.

Nobody is suggesting the smartphone perform open heart surgery, but if it can use image recognition on a rash to tell you to try calamine lotion before going to see a dermatologist, that can save everyone a lot of time and money. Or, to use a personal example, after I fell on my shoulder, it could guide me through a series of tests (of the type "does it hurt when you do X?") and suggest I may have an AC joint separation and I should see an orthopedist. In the last example, I was originally diagnosed over the phone (by a non-orthopedist doctor) after exactly that experience. The default choice in a case such as mine would be to go to the ER. That would have turned out to be an inefficient and expensive choice and wasted a lot of people's time.

Re:Great idea

[timeOday]

"A bit beyond us" is exactly what the XPrize is for.