Annual spending on computer-aided diagnosis systems (CAD) will reach $800 million globally by 2022, as artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups have a greater impact on healthcare delivery.
This is according to a Juniper Research report: Digital Health: Vendor Analysis, Emerging Technologies & Market Forecasts 2017-2022. The report found AI is increasingly being applied to a varied range of use cases, from powering chatbots to understanding patients' symptoms or interpreting genomic data sets.
Driven by the improved accuracy and usability of CAD systems, according to Juniper, the use of AI in healthcare will result in faster and more accurate diagnoses for patients, as well as reduced pressure on doctors.
"By 2022, around 28.4 million chronic disease scans will be fed into first-line CAD systems annually. AI in healthcare will be utilised in big data analytics solutions, allowing the processing of more complex datasets, such as doctors' notes in electronic health records (EHR). Juniper believes that AI, EHR systems and analytics platforms will increasingly be integrated into one system," reveals the report.
However, Juniper further finds that AI faces significant challenges - there is a widespread perceived issue with trust, largely resulting from the so-called 'black box'. Here, AI is unable to demonstrate how it has arrived at a decision, while it is incapable of building trust as a human would (via body language, for example). AI companies should demonstrate high levels of public engagement and independent verification to ensure data is being handled in the correct way, notes the report.
According to the NEJM Catalyst Insights Report, focused start-ups, not traditional healthcare organisations, will be the leading source of disruptive innovation in the industry. The report is based on surveys of a qualified group of US executives, clinical leaders and clinicians at organisations directly involved in healthcare delivery.
"In the area of primary healthcare, 65% of respondents said focused start-ups will be the source of promising new entrants to the marketplace, compared to 29% who point to traditional healthcare companies or organisations. More than half of respondents said focused start-ups will lead innovation in both healthcare IT (63%) and hospitals/health systems (54%).
Arthur Goldstuck, head of research consultancy at World Wide Worx, says the expansion of AI start-ups across Africa aims to serve a massively emerging market of citizens who want to be treated like individuals.
"There is only one way that you can really address the entire consumer market on a one-on-one basis, and that's by using AI. People think AI is not relevant in Africa, but it's even more relevant because of the continent's complex market, which has different requirements. The only way to deal with complexity on a mass scale is by adding automated processes which automatically recognise individual needs. In any country you can imagine, there are AI start-ups that are addressing very specific needs, serving consumers as individuals," he noted.
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