Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has tremendous potential.  We talk on this podcast about potential uses of AI in geriatrics and palliative care with natural language processing guru Charlotta Lindvall from DFCI, bioethicists and internist Matt DeCamp from University of Colorado, and prognosis wizard Sei Lee from UCSF.

• Social companions to address the epidemic of loneliness among older adults

• Augmenting ability of clinicians by taking notes

• Searching the electronic health record for data

• Predicting mortality and other outcomes

We talk also about the pitfalls of AI, including:

• Recapitulation bias by race and ethnicity, and other factors, exacerbating disparities

• Confidentiality concerns: do those social companions also monitor older adults for falls? 24/7?  

• Hallucinations, or when the AI lies or bullshits, then denies it

• When the AI approaches sentience, is it ethical to unplug it?

I’m sure this is a subject we will return to, given the rapid progress on AI.

Enjoy!

-@AlexSmithMD  

 

Links:

Papers on AI and palliative care and concerns about bias: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20200911.401376/ https://academic.oup.com/jamia/article/27/12/2020/5859726

Comparison of machine learning vs traditional prognostic methods based on regression: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/mcar/2022/00000060/00000006/art00011

Other links on the issue of AI and racial or ethnic bias:

Are Robots Racist? Greenwall Foundation Bill Stubbing lecture Are Robots Racist? Rethinking Automation and Inequity in Healthcare https://www.nber.org/papers/w30700 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add2704 https://theconversation.com/including-race-in-clinical-algorithms-can-both-reduce-and-increase-health-inequities-it-depends-on-what-doctors-use-them-for-206168

MD Calc approach to inclusion of race https://www.mdcalc.com/race