AI has potential, but it won’t save us on its own
Twenty years ago, one of the London bomb attacks of 7/7 was on a bus passing the headquarters of the BMA (doi:10.1136/bmj.r1416).1 Staff from the BMA and The BMJ helped with the emergency response. It was a time of fear of further attacks, but we took for granted the capacity of the emergency services and the health system to respond. It was also a time of optimism in the future of the NHS. That optimism has evaporated. The question now is how to save the NHS in a digitally advanced world. The constant expansion of digital technology, particularly artificial intelligence, won’t necessarily save healthcare. Yet this is the big bet in England’s new 10 year health plan (doi:10.1136/bmj.r1394 doi:10.1136/bmj.r1405).23 The inevitable rise of algorithms means, the plan’s authors imagine, that we’ll achieve the productivity benefit of more healthcare delivered by fewer health professionals. This sounds good in …
