AI Health Tech Aims to Fix Health Problems You Didn't Know You Had

"As technology develops, so does our view into our health. And lately, more and more wellness companies have been advertising the use of artificial intelligence in their apps and products. There are mirrors that claim to tell us how old we look and apps that look at the blood flow beneath our skin to take our blood pressure. But is AI-powered health tracking actually making us healthier yet?

Beyond the headlines, much of the AI health spotlight has been in medicine on the clinical side, rather than consumer tech. Doctors and scientists see AI's promise as a key diagnostic tool that can catch cancer and other deadly diseases sooner, giving people more time for treatment and potentially saving lives. The US Food and Drug Administration has cleared AI for many medical uses. (However, no "generative" AI uses had been approved as of its latest update, on Oct. 19, 2023.)

Available now to people interested in getting an internal view of themselves head-to-toe are full-body AI scans -- a new type of MRI, which companies say can make quicker diagnoses of cancer, aneurysms, liver disease and other life-threatening conditions. But many doctors say this model isn't quite ready for the mainstream, largely because it doesn't align with the typical "risks versus benefits" assessments used in traditional medicine.

Outside the clinics, AI's impact on consumer wellness is less clear right now. The growing number of apps and trackers that promise to reveal things about your health that you wouldn't otherwise know may leave you with the feeling you're never without some sort of symptom or health metric that needs to be tracked down -- and this assumes they're accurate readings in the first place..." Lire la suite