Artificial intelligence may reshape health care, but it must never replace the human touch, a technology leader told a recent symposium in Peoria, according to OSF HealthCare.
Michael Gillam, M.D., CEO of HealthLab and founder of Microsoft's Healthcare Innovation Lab, delivered the keynote at the Health Care Engineering Systems Symposium celebrating the Jump ARCHES program this week, OSF said.
Gillam said artificial intelligence could expand access to care and free medical professionals from routine administrative tasks, giving them more time with patients. But he said humanity and compassion must remain at the center of health care.
"The thing that will become increasingly important is humanity, connection, the human touch, the thing that it seems like so many of our youth, teenagers and others crave today."
Gillam also cautioned that AI's rapid growth brings risks, including misinformation and unintended consequences, and he called for regulation to guide its development, OSF said.
Background
According to the program's website, Jump ARCHES — short for Jump Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation — is a collaboration between OSF HealthCare, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria. The site says the program was established in 2014 by a $62.5 million gift and expanded in 2019 with an additional $50 million commitment, funding teams of clinicians, engineers and social scientists working to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs.
Source: the original release