Medicine Needs SkyNet

Let’s start with a universal assumptive statement that all patients want their doctors to identify the right diagnosis for them every time. Not some of the time, not most of the time, but every time. Today, that’s virtually impossible for a whole slew of reasons. First, medical knowledge has become a behemoth on an almost exponential growth path. The human brain simply does not have the capacity to perfectly absorb, store, and apply that knowledge with consistent perfection. Even if you disagree at the moment, with every passing day, that becomes more irrefutable and arguably beyond debate. Second, it’s really tough to be a medical practitioner these days. Between maneuvering cumbersome electronic health records, dealing with multiple administrative burdens, and interacting with an increasingly empowered patient base with its own thoughts and conclusions, doctors are facing unprecedented rates of burn-out. Couple that with extremely busy days subject to the always unexpected, now clearly demonstrated daily decision fatigue, ever-present cognitive bias for consistency over accuracy, and unavoidable communication gaffes, it’s just really tough for physicians to hold it all together and be perfect, let alone highly consistently right.

This partially explains why there are 12 million diagnostic errors made each year in the US alone, and the National Academy of Medicine now predicts that everyone will experience such an error. Does any rational person not agree that we need a better way?

In the currently science fiction Terminator movies, SkyNet, is the general artificial intelligence system with a mission to wipe out humankind. Although clearly the bad “guys,” you have to admire the relentless, maniacal pursuit of its goals. Imagine if that ingenious and laser-focused capability, sans the homicidal compulsions, could be applied to medical practice. Yet even AI cannot be expected to get it perfect every time. But with limitless capacity to exert effort to find the right answer, and fed accurate and comprehensive information, it is expected to easily surpass human capabilities. Of course, human supervision is needed to make sure it doesn’t develop a 'mind of its own' and go awry.

As CEO of SOAP Health, and a devout follower of digital health, it’s clear to me that we need this level of intelligence wizardly to elevate health care by improving accessibility, affordability, and accuracy for all. AI is coming; its competencies expand every day. But with any system, AI, generalized or otherwise, will only be as good as the data it can access and analyze. We at SOAP Health are maniacally focused on making sure that such data will be available when a SkyNet look-alike is ready for medical diagnosis supremacy. We see that vision as clear as day. Judgment Day is coming. Let’s be ready!