FT News Briefing Introducing Tech Tonic: Trust me, I’m a robot
Jul 5, 2021
Madhumita Murgia, the FT’s European technology correspondent, dives into AI's transformative role in healthcare. She highlights how AI is being used in rural India to improve tuberculosis diagnoses, showcasing life-saving innovations. The discussion also tackles racial disparities in pain perception, revealing how AI can bridge these gaps in understanding patient experiences. Murgia emphasizes the balance needed between AI’s potential benefits and the irreplaceable human touch in patient care, addressing biases that can arise in these advanced systems.
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Bias in Arthritis Studies
- Medical knowledge about arthritis originates from studies on a homogenous group.
- This group was 100% white, 100% male, which creates biases in current medical practices.
Racial Disparities in Pain Perception
- Ziad Obermeyer studied pain perception differences between Black and white patients.
- Despite similar arthritis severity on x-rays, Black patients reported higher pain levels.
Bias in Medical Algorithms
- Medical algorithms are typically trained on doctors' interpretations of medical images.
- This can perpetuate existing biases because doctors' interpretations themselves may be biased.