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You may already know that AI is being used to take notes in the doctor’s office, schedule appointments, and analyze medical images.
But some experts believe consumers should do more with AI to understand their health status.
“People should be using AI more than they are now,” said Alex Zaboronkov, founder and CEO of an AI drug discovery company. in silico medicine.
“Many of the AI models that consumers are using are actually achieving a level of competency that approaches, and in some cases exceeds, that of some doctors,” Zaboronkov said Wednesday during a panel discussion at CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE event in Singapore.
He advocated using AI to answer basic health questions such as “What should I eat?…Should I go on a diet?” he said. “Some very basic questions can be answered by an AI doctor. In fact, it will save you the time of consulting a real doctor,” he added.
ChatGPT, Amazon launches health tools
AI is being used in a variety of ways in consumer healthcare.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health in January to enable people to securely connect their medical records and wellness apps to AI chatbots. The company said this new health experience is not intended to be diagnostic or therapeutic. The same month, Amazon has deployed a HealthAI tool for members of its primary care chain One Medical. This tool is designed to provide advice based on your medical records, test results, and current medications.
Shreehas Tambe, CEO and Managing Director, Biotechnology Company bioconsaid he was cautiously optimistic about the use of AI in medical settings and described a “learning curve” for new users.
“I think trying to put an evolving technology platform into the hands of people who are probably still getting the hang of it can lead to more misguided results,” he said on CONVERGE LIVE.
“Then the technology could present more challenges than benefits,” Tambe added.
Thanks to AI tools, the research time for a drug to reach the development candidate stage has been reduced from more than four years to 18 months, Zaboronkov said. Developmental candidates are part of the drug discovery process that occurs before human clinical trials. In March, major pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly Signed a $2.75 billion deal with Insilico Medicine to bring medicines developed using AI to market.
Tambe said it was important for the “humans involved” to validate the AI models used to discover new drugs. “These models need to be validated by people who understand the science and can push the boundaries and say this is the solution I want these generative models to develop,” he said.
—CNBC’s Ashley Capoot and Annie Palmer contributed to this report.
