The advent of AI has brought about significant changes in the healthcare industry. From personalized diagnostics to venting to ChatGPT, there are benefits, risks, and limitations.

AI can perform many tasks previously done by humans, quickly solving problems, reducing human errors, and making decisions.

Healthcare and medicine are always advancing; new technologies can help them go even further, leading to safer, faster, and more efficient ways of doing things.

A 2024 study states that AI has superior capabilities in diagnostic accuracy, or diagnosing and detecting diseases early, from technologies such as X-rays, mammograms, ultrasounds, or CT scans. AI can quickly analyze medical images, leading to faster diagnoses that benefit both the patient and the physician.

For example, AI can help diagnose breast cancer from mammogram images, leading to a person receiving much quicker lifesaving treatment and reducing the costs for hospitals.

AI can also reduce the risk of human error when reading and interpreting scans. Another 2024 study stated that AI can have a hugely beneficial impact on the healthcare industry by revolutionizing diagnostic imaging, including:

  • enhancing how accurate the interpretation of the images is
  • making the delivery of the diagnosis much faster
  • being able to detect intricate patterns in an image, further beyond human capabilities
  • being able to analyze complex medical issues, such as diagnosing cancer or Alzheimer’s disease from images
  • reducing the risk of mistakes or misdiagnosis

AI can help analyze individual patient data to create a tailored, personalized treatment plan for each patient. It can take into account different categories such as medical history, genetics, past treatments, future treatments, current lifestyle, etc., and then create a plan that suits them, helping them on their way to better health.

A 2024 study states that this is especially beneficial post-treatment, reducing the risk of complications that can add further stress to patients and increase hospital costs. AI can help shape the appropriate interventions a person and their physician can take during or after treatment.

This may include:

  • suggesting specific follow-up treatments after a diagnosis, such as chemotherapy
  • suggesting ways to manage chronic illnesses, such as physical therapy, specific diets, or routines that help with taking certain medications
  • analyzing patient-specific data, such as blood tests, glucose tests, and real-time heart rate data from smartwatches, etc.
  • pre-empting what can happen in the future, including how a patient responds to future treatments, or what complications they may encounter

A tailored response can lead to better patient outcomes, but it still comes with drawbacks. Ultimately, a physician or healthcare professional will still need to have the final say on the treatment plan.

Paul’s story: AI and healthcare

“About six months ago, I downloaded a health app that used AI to create a customized health plan based on user input. The functionality surpassed other competitor apps, which is why I was so impressed with how actionable and specific the advice was.

“Rather than telling me to “eat better” or “exercise more,” it tailored suggestions to help me with achievable goals around weight, energy, and sleep.

“Everything I mentioned was great, but the most useful feature was the one related to my fatigue. The app noticed I was a bit more tired than usual and encouraged me to talk to a doctor. Because of that, I was able to start early testing for a thyroid issue.

“Without this app, I may not have addressed it for a long time, if at all. I have since incorporated changes to my life, and I really do feel better.”

A 2024 study states that AI can help predict disease outbreaks by analyzing data. AI can use prediction models that can help determine whether an outbreak of high risk diseases, such as sepsis in hospitals, will occur, or whether a particular patient is at risk for a large variety of diseases.

It can also identify which populations are more susceptible to certain outbreaks and offer preemptive measures to control or manage them. This overall allows for early detection and early treatment.

A 2025 study found that AI can identify risks a patient may encounter regarding disease occurrence, allowing physicians to develop a plan and make better decisions for their treatment and overall healthcare. Usually, physicians rely on past patient data, which can take a longer time to analyze.

A 2024 study states that AI has the potential to transform the landscape of medicine, offering its benefits and services to different types of surgery, from general surgery to ophthalmology. A current use of AI in surgery involves robotic systems, such as the da Vinci system.

We have all seen futuristic videos of robotic arms performing incredibly complex operations, and this may not be too far off. Currently, healthcare institutions use AI in:

  • laser eye surgery, such as LASIK
  • small incision lenticular extraction (SMILE), another type of eye surgery
  • diagnosing and predicting how joint surgery or joint replacements will improve a patient’s mobility
  • improving the management of brain tumors
  • anticpating leaks in colorectal resection surgery
  • detecting intracranial hemorrhage in the brain
  • robotics that can assist in minimally invasive surgery, by translating and copying the movement of surgeons

Further advancement is necessary, however, as are the drawbacks and limitations. Overall, AI can help improve surgery by:

  • offering extreme precision and accuracy, far greater than that of a human surgeon, and avoiding accidental injuries during surgery, or uncontrollable human limitations such as hand tremors
  • offering live feeds of the surgery, detecting issues, tumors, and any discrepancies that occur during the surgery, and providing real-time data to analyze after
  • can act as a fresh pair of eyes alongside the surgeon, anticipating potential issues and avoiding critical nerves, veins, and arteries

Most of us are familiar with ChatGPT, an advanced AI chatbot that can respond in a human-like manner, offering information, advice, translation, coding, and much more.

A virtual assistant can schedule appointments and provide quick advice when and where necessary. They can also support patients as necessary, such as reminding them to take their medication, offering encouragement, and adapting to each user’s personalized healthcare plan, with examples including eHealth and mHealth.

People find virtual assistants to be free of judgment, whilst also displaying a sense of artificial empathy. People are more inclined to open up to a virtual assistant than another human, feeling a lot more comfortable discussing sensitive topics such as:

  • drug misuse
  • sexual health
  • mental health

However, there are risks to using chatbots in healthcare, with a flurry of recent news regarding people using AI chatbots such as ChatGPT as “free therapy”, despite it not being a professional or monitored form of mental health help, and it sometimes giving out harmful, misleading, or inappropriate advice or responses.

AI still has its limitations, but it has transformed and improved the healthcare industry in various ways. It can provide a steady, robotic hand during surgery and create personalized treatment plans that predict diseases and conditions years in advance.

Still, it isn’t a replacement for real human interaction, or for healthcare professionals such as doctors, physicians, and mental health professionals. It may once have been a futuristic concept, but now it is firmly embedded in many societies as a helpful tool for advancing modern medicine.