Computers Could Be Smart, But Your Doctor Is Smarter

Doctors can diagnose better than computers.

People always wondered if computers could become smarter than humans.  Researchers from  Harvard Medical  School decided to compare the doctors and the machines regarding the diagnostic accuracy level.  The results show that even technology developed a lot, doctors are still smarter and more efficient.

Researchers gave to the doctors and the machines some stories about patients. They were asked to make three diagnoses and rank them.  According to the study,  humans gave the right diagnosis 72 percent of the time, while digital platforms manage to do this only in 34 percent of the time. Moreover, it seems that doctors are better when it comes to difficult health issues, that can’t be discovered easily. They gave the right answer 79 percent of the time, while the machines were right only by 24 percent. Even though the machines seem to handle the common health problems, humans are still better when it comes to chronic diseases or unusual issues. This proves that the machines still need to be improved and there is a long journey before they will be able to diagnose in the same way as a doctor.

However, humans and computers should not be seen as competitors. Individuals are still getting the diagnose wrong almost 15 percent of the time. We could use the machines to make us be more efficient. Computers should not become smarter than us, they should help us.

One of the biggest issues of our society is that we are used to looking for medical advice on the Internet without going to a real doctor. If you type any disease in the search box, you will find information about it as well as recommended treatments. However, every individual is different.

Moreover, there are more diseases who have the same symptoms. This is why going to the doctor is the best option no matter how much information a computer can provide you. For example, a simple flu can provide a lot of side-effects. Unfortunately, we are not aware of the danger until it is too late.

At the moment, humans are more effective than machines regarding the diagnostic accuracy. Things could change in the future as the artificial intelligence is developing fast. What do you think? Will machines be able to become smarter than us?

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