Siddhartha Mukherjee has a good long read in The New Yorker about machine learning and medical diagnosis this week.
In it, he explores whether machines are going to replace radiologists, dermatologists, etc or help them do their jobs better.
He concludes with this observation:
The word “diagnosis,” he reminded me, comes from the Greek for “knowing apart.” Machine-learning algorithms will only become better at such knowing apart—at partitioning, at distinguishing moles from melanomas. But knowing, in all its dimensions, transcends those task-focussed algorithms. In the realm of medicine, perhaps the ultimate rewards come from knowing together.
We are very excited about the possibilities of using machine learning to help diagnose medical conditions early when they can be treated successfully. We have made a number of investments in this area and I expect we will make many more.
I believe that this is the future of medicine and the sooner we get to it the better off everyone, including the practitioners, will be.
