Daniel E. Hurtado Mine Orlu Associate Professor, Ponti昀椀cal Catholic Professor of Pharmaceutics, UCL School University of Chile of Pharmacy, Faculty of Life Sciences, UCL Andrew Maynard Landry Signe Professor of Advanced Technology Transitions, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution Arizona State University Bernard S. Meyerson Chief Innovation Of昀椀cer Emeritus, IBM The shortcomings of healthcare systems all over has embraced an AI-based approach to enhance the world became abundantly and horrifyingly medical outreach. The Indian government has clear during the early days of the COVID-19 enabled physicians to engage remote communities pandemic when the sustainable workloads of many through assistive technologies, with requisite hospitals were rapidly exceeded. In response, privacy safeguards in place. government-based and academic teams have been created to integrate AI and machine learning In addition to protecting data privacy and gathering (ML) into healthcare – both to anticipate impending quality data needed to generate these insights, pandemics and to aid in effectively addressing them other challenges to implementing AI-facilitated 64,65 (AI4PEP). These emergent efforts to enhance healthcare approaches include bolstering public the ef昀椀cacy of national and global healthcare acceptance and universal adoption of such systems in the face of major health crises, and technologies, assuring patient compliance and to democratize access to care, are in their initial addressing possible national security concerns. stages but will rapidly scale up by integrating quality While these remaining hurdles may be challenging data into the AI and ML models.66 to overcome, the risks of inaction are clear. AI-based technologies could also help to tackle a Moreover, any system that curates personal data related challenge – the long delays many patients on the health and welfare of a vast population must experience when attempting to obtain medical function within the bounds of a carefully crafted care through the healthcare system.67 Surprisingly, legal and ethical framework. Such considerations delays often arise not from a lack of capacity 70 are already the topic of extensive discussion, but due to uneven access to – and resultant and legal frameworks are beginning to emerge in underutilization of – existing facilities. When applied anticipation of the global application of AI and ML to a curated data set of existing medical facilities, to healthcare. AI-based healthcare solutions will AI, ML and data analytics, techniques dramatically become ever-more pervasive in the next three to improved patient access to treatments. Medical 昀椀ve years, to the great bene昀椀t of human health – Con昀椀dence, a subsidiary of CloudMD, used such particularly for those in underserved populations. technology to optimally align patient treatment needs with facility availability, enabling dramatic reductions in treatment wait times – in some cases, Impact 68 An AI- from many months down to only weeks. 昀椀ngerprint based approach to optimizing access to care is People Image: becoming broadly adopted in Canada and will likely One of the most effective be replicated elsewhere. ways emerging AI systems may impact healthcare is The impact of AI-based healthcare could be even Equity Planet through the treatment of more profound in developing nations, which often data and analytics. lack the infrastructure and personnel to deliver Credit: Midjourney and health services to much of their populations. Studio Miko. Intelligent tools to assist in the identi昀椀cation, Prompt (abbreviated): monitoring and treatment of new or ongoing “Abstract population data”. medical conditions – such as an AI-based system 69 Read more: to facilitate the reading of radiological data – are Discover expert analysis a 昀椀rst step in leveraging AI and ML to enhance related to AI-facilitated healthcare capabilities in locations where care is Prosperity healthcare on the Strategic currently inadequate. India, for example, has a Industry Intelligence Platform. widely dispersed population of over 1.4 billion and Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2023 27