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                    Evolution of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped many industries revolutionize their processes in recent years, including the healthcare industry. The industry changes have been rapid, and even the newest technology becomes outdated in the blink of an eye. As machines adopt more human-like intelligence, AI stands to revolutionize the healthcare system exponentially over the years.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a machine's ability or a mechanical device controlled by a computer to do tasks that humans usually do because they require human intelligence and discernment.

Artificial Intelligence in healthcare has its roots around the mid-20th century when a problem-solving program known as Dendral1.  Its purpose was to form hypotheses using mass spectrometry. Dendral was a project in artificial intelligence (AI) of the 1960s, and the computer software expert system produced by Standford University.  Later several systems were derived with Dendral as the base. These systems could identify infection-causing bacteria and the dose of antibiotics that could kill them effectively. 

From there, we have evolved to complex AI machines today, which are found in hospitals and laboratories, and the common household.

Medically speaking, radiology is probably the medical field that has benefited the most from AI technology. Radio-based images can now be interpreted using artificial intelligence and detect even the smallest changes from a normal Radio-image. Even diseases such as COVID-19, Flu, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and certain types of cancer can be detected using Artificial Intelligence these days.

Other than that, most hospitals have shifted from a mainframe archive system to a web hosting cloud-based, AI archive system, which can retrieve and store data as necessary. The system can also derive patterns and show data such as the number of patients who came in with a particular illness and age groups of people with certain other diseases.

Google's DeepMind AI software is being used in several hospitals worldwide. This system can alert doctors and the staff when a patient's health is at severe risk. Quick action by the staff can then save lives. Other than that, the system can also help doctors with a rapid diagnosis.

If we look at things on a domestic level, our phones and smartwatches are quite efficient in keeping track of our health. The gadgets we use can track anything from our heart rate to the number of steps we walk per day and more. They often notify us if we do not get enough sleep or haven't been getting much exercise recently.

Artificial Intelligence shows a lot of promise for the future of the healthcare industry. Radiology systems are currently under development to recognize different tumors and their prognosis, which can help curate effective treatment plans. Furthermore, electronic record systems may not need manual entry, and data from the patient is collected using body cams. These intuitive systems can save time spent on manually entering data.

The development of systems that use brain-computer interfaces5 is also underway. These systems can be implanted into patients with nervous-system-induced disabilities that prevent them from performing everyday tasks such as eating, speaking, and walking with relative ease. 

Smart systems inside Intensive Care Units can help monitor the unstable situation of patients. They can also be used to identify outbreaks of hospital-wide diseases such as sepsis or Legionella Pneumophila induced pneumonia.