Now a group of researchers in the United States and China has tested a potential remedy for all-too-human frailties: artificial intelligence.
In a paper published Monday in Nature Medicine, the scientists reported that they had built a system that automatically diagnoses common childhood conditions — from influenza to meningitis — after processing the patient’s symptoms, history, lab results and other clinical data.
The system was highly accurate, the researchers said, and one day may assist doctors in diagnosing complex or rare conditions.
Drawing on the records of nearly 600,000 Chinese patients who had visited a pediatric hospital over an 18-month period, the vast collection of data used to train this new system highlights an advantage for China in the worldwide race toward artificial intelligence.
Because its population is so large — and because its privacy norms put fewer restrictions on the sharing of digital data — it may be easier for Chinese companies and researchers to build and train the “deep learning” systems that are rapidly changing the trajectory of health care.
On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order meant to spur the development of AI across government, academia and industry in the United States. As part of this “American AI Initiative,” the administration will encourage federal agencies and universities to share data that can drive the development of automated systems.
The new system relies on a neural network, a breed of artificial intelligence that is accelerating the development of everything from health care to driverless cars to military applications. A neural network can learn tasks largely on its own by analyzing vast amounts of data.
Able to recognize patterns in data that humans could never identify on their own, neural networks can be enormously powerful in the right situation. But even experts have difficulty understanding why such networks make particular decisions and how they teach themselves.
As a result, extensive testing is needed to reassure both doctors and patients that these systems are reliable.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.