Why and how we must accelerate AI’s impact on healthcare

AI could revolutionize drug discovery and healthcare, but AI’s impact on global health depends on representative data, trustworthy design and scalability. Before GPS, drivers relied on the humble printed map. GPS changed everything. The technology wasn’t perfect - it was ignorant of new roads, temporary closures and traffic conditions - but we adopted it because it beat the status quo. The occasional glitch wasn’t the worst thing in the world and, while the public might not have fully understood satellite-based radio navigation, they didn’t need to. Self-driving technology, however, faces an uphill climb given its complexity, life-or-death stakes and the need to work everywhere and in all conditions. AI in healthcare resembles self-driving vehicles in that the data and assumptions used to build algorithms are obscure, the consequences of a clumsy algorithm are dire and, to transform healthcare, solutions must be deployable at scale.