Machine Learning in Healthcare

According to sources, currently developing algorithms are nearly as good as doctors at diagnosing conditions and recommending possible treatments. There are a few outliers where the doctor has the advantage, but by and large it seems that with this technology, the doctor can potentially play a much smaller role in researching and verifying a diagnosis than they do now.

Machine Learning in healthcare does raise an ethical question, however. It is the nature of a machine learning algorithm to analyze and use as a reference any data it is given. If patients are not informed of this fact and consenting to having their data used, this constitutes an invasion of privacy. In the case where a patient did not consent, or does not understand what they have consented to, the usage of such an algorithm would be unethical.

Overall, machine learning in healthcare is a good thing, even if there are some issue that still need to be ironed out before it becomes widespread.