The Guardian view on AI in the NHS: a good servant, when it’s not a bad master | Editorial

The Guardian view on AI in the NHS: a good servant, when it’s not a bad master | Editorial The NHS collects vast amounts of data. It must be used in imaginative ways that respect privacy and make life better for patients and health workers

Technology helps us live better and for longer; in fact it has been doing so since the birth of modern medicine. And as each new technology comes into use, it turns out to have medical uses, even though these are not always the ones that are sold hardest: in the 1920s the American press was full of advertisements for the health benefits of radium, which was then a mysterious and powerful substance just as artificial intelligence (AI) is today. AI won’t work miracles or make death unnecessary by letting people upload their minds into silicon, but it might catch cancers earlier. The prime minister on Monday said that 30,000 lives a year would be saved by 2030, mostly through earlier and more accurate diagnosis. This is about 10% of the annual cancer death rate in Britain. It is possible to object that the money would be better spent on less glamorous initiatives, such as hiring enough care workers, nurses and doctors and paying them all properly. But while that is certainly very urgent, there is no need to choose between the two approaches. We need both. Continue reading...