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X Prize Foundation Wants AI Physician On Every Smartphone

Posted by Soulskill on from the universal-health-care dept.

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.

13 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. No smallpox. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Want to know if that rash on your leg is poison ivy or smallpox?

    Not smallpox. C4n I plz haz the prize?

  2. Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon by Burz · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

    Would the smartphone version be any better?

    1. Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon by kg8484 · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, but now I'm worried I might have Hypochondria.

    2. Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    3. Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon by Kilrah_il · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's even more problematic than you think. As a doctor, many times I have patients coming to me with "agonizing abdominal pain" - they are sure it's appendicitis. If you check their stomach or ask them "does it hurt here?" they jump and cry and wail, etc. etc. But if I start talking to them on other subjects (What do you do in your life? Are you married? Children?) and get them diverted, I find out many times that they "forget" about their pain and the stomach is as soft and non-tender as can be.
      This is one of the reasons that no app can replace a physical exam by a doctor. You need the doctor-patient relationship to strip away the anxiety and find out the true magnitude of the symptoms. So, yes, an app like the one in TFA could be nice as a handy reference, but nothing beats the good-old face-to-face meeting.

      --
      Whenever in an argument, remember this.
    4. Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon by bitflip · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I was having some pain in my chest a couple of years back, and did some research on the internet, but none of the symptoms fit. So, I went to my doctor, and told him I'd done some research, but it didn't seem like a heart problem. When he looked surprised, I asked him if I was the only person who'd said they'd looked stuff up on the internet, and decided nothing was wrong. He said, pretty much, yea.

      (turned out to be a minor stomach problem, all fixed now - thanks doc!)

    5. Re:Internet hypochondria is already a phenomenon by jeffporcaro · · Score: 5, Informative

      OMG, I *wish* this were true of the AMA. As a physician and still active member, I can tell you that this couldn't be further from the truth. The AMA's primary business is publishing and maintaining insurance coding and billing standards, and selling their databases to the highest bidder. They employ lobbyists primarily to maintain that monopoly - they are NOT particularly interested in maintaining insurance or government payments to physicians (aka "livelihood"), although they make noises on that topic occasionally. They've basically been relegated to the sidelines on most national issues involving medicine. They represent less than 30% of active US physicians. I hear this same trope frequently, however, despite the fact that it's demonstrably false.

      --
      It is not the doing of things that is difficult. What is difficult is getting in the right mood to do them. ~~ Brancusi
  3. My epitaph... by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here Lies Jim
    His cellphone said it wasn't cancer.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  4. Tell me more by bsDaemon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tell me more about X Prize foundation Wants AI Physician On Every Smartphone. /emacs

  5. Yeah... by SolitaryMan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Especially for the billion plus people around the world who live more than a few hours walk or drive from the nearest doctor.

    Yeah, to all four of them, who actually have a smartphone

    --
    May Peace Prevail On Earth
  6. The diagnosis is... by AdmiralXyz · · Score: 4, Funny

    "You have severe inflammation of the cerebral cortex, human. The only cure is to wire your brain into the AI Overmind. Proceed at once to the nearest Community Conversion Center."

    --
    Dislike the Electoral College? Lobby your state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
  7. Re:LOL no Tricorder tag? by RangerRick98 · · Score: 4, Funny

    My first thought was "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

    --
    "You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older."
  8. Facebook status update by hamburgler007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    has herpes.