Can AI offer reliable health and wellness advice?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly integrated with our daily lives. It has so many uses that we now take for granted. However, simple technological requests are one thing, but can we trust AI to provide reliable medical advice? In what is a highly regulated industry, any public sources of advice need to be heavily scrutinized – yet AI remains a largely unregulated resource. 

Ultimately, AI is an awful long way from having the capability to replace medical professionals. We can’t yet trust the technology to produce the most relevant, tailored recommendations that we’d receive by visiting a doctor. 

But that’s not to say it doesn’t have a role in the industry, and it can’t be a valuable source of advice. In fact, practitioners in all different fields are already realizing the vast potential of AI-powered tools. 

AI’s many applications in the industry 

For many years, AI has been leveraged in different ways across the healthcare industry. However, in the vast majority of cases, it’s used by trained medical professionals to support their roles, rather than replace them entirely. For example, AI tools can help to organize doctor’s notes, or support decision making processes around diagnoses or recommended treatments. 

Despite the advanced capabilities of AI, human oversight remains essential. Healthcare professionals can interpret AI-generated insights within the broader context of a patient’s health. They can consider factors that an AI might overlook, such as emotional wellbeing or social determinants of health. Relying solely on AI without human intervention can lead to a gap in care, as AI lacks the empathy and nuanced understanding that human practitioners provide. Thus, AI should be viewed as a supportive tool rather than a replacement for professional healthcare advice.

What are the key limitations? 

As with any application of AI, there are potential pitfalls that users need to be aware of. In the realm of medicine and wellbeing, here are three main limitations to keep in mind: 

• Accuracy and reliability. AI systems rely on vast amounts of data to generate recommendations, but the quality and comprehensiveness of this data can vary. Inaccurate or incomplete data can lead to flawed advice, potentially putting users’ health at risk. For instance, an AI fitness app might recommend an exercise regimen that is too rigorous for someone with an underlying health condition that the AI isn’t aware of. 
• Data privacy and security. The use of AI in health and wellness involves collecting and processing sensitive personal data, raising significant privacy and security concerns. Users must trust that their data will be stored securely and used ethically; instances of data breaches where personal health information is exposed can have severe consequences. Ensuring robust data protection measures and transparent data policies is crucial for building and maintaining user trust in this field.
• Ethical considerations. AI’s growing role in health and wellness brings several ethical dilemmas to the forefront. One major issue is bias in algorithms. If the data used to train AI models reflects existing biases, the recommendations may inadvertently perpetuate these biases, leading to unequal health outcomes. For example, an AI tool trained predominantly on data from a specific demographic may not provide accurate advice for individuals outside that group. 

Transparency in AI decision-making is another ethical concern; users should understand how and why a particular recommendation was made. Without transparency, it becomes challenging to hold AI systems accountable for their advice.