In Deep Medicine, Eric Topol argues that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) for healthcare will lead to a dramatic shift in the culture and practice of medicine. Topol claims that, rather than replacing physicians, AI could function alongside of them in order to allow them to devote more of their time to face-to-face patient care. Unfortunately, these high hopes for AI-enhanced medicine fail to appreciate a number of factors that, we believe, suggest a radically different picture for the future (...) of healthcare. Far from facilitating a return to “the golden age of doctoring”, the role of economic and institutional considerations in determining how medical AI will be used mean that it is likely to further erode therapeutic relationships and threaten professional and patient satisfaction. (shrink)

This paper discusses the key role medical regulators have in setting standards for doctors who use artificial intelligence (AI) in patient care. Given their mandate to protect public health and safety, it is incumbent on regulators to guide the profession on emerging and vexed areas of practice such as AI. However, formulating effective and robust guidance in a novel field is challenging particularly as regulators are navigating unfamiliar territory. As such, regulators themselves will need to understand what AI is and (...) to grapple with its ethical and practical challenges when doctors use AI in their care of patients. This paper will also argue that effective regulation of AI extends beyond devising guidance for the profession. It includes keeping abreast of developments in AI-based technology and considering the implications for regulation and the practice of medicine. On that note, medical regulators should encourage the profession to evaluate how AI may exacerbate existing issues in medicine and create unintended consequences so that doctors (and patients) are realistic about AI’s potential and pitfalls when it is used in health care delivery. (shrink)