{"id":4407,"date":"2021-05-03T17:02:24","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T22:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=4407"},"modified":"2021-05-03T17:03:30","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T22:03:30","slug":"artificial-intelligence-is-a-limited-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/artificial-intelligence-is-a-limited-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial Intelligence is a Limited Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spend a week in my family, and you\u2019d never know artificial\nintelligence is a limited tool. Every time I swear at Siri or complain about a\nsearch engine, of my sons delivers the dire warning that I have now insulted the\nAI and it will make me pay! Even though I know he\u2019s kidding, there\u2019s a part of\nme that feels there\u2019s a kernel of truth in that message. Our lives are hugely\ninfluenced by algorithms that may or may not capture us correctly. And as our\nlives move more online, artificial intelligence controls more than we may realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I\u2019m stating the obvious, but I am concerned that\nwe\u2019re approaching an inflection point at which we may no longer recognize the\nline between real and contrived. And we\u2019ve already reached the point at which\nkeyword searches have become less accurate and less useful. Even broad Google\nsearches no longer give me broad responses. It has become harder to find\nscientific research on a general topic without knowing the title or author of a\nstudy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since AI makes our lives easier, why don\u2019t I just shut up\nand enjoy it? It\u2019s a valid question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do enjoy the ways in which artificial intelligence works well and saves me time. But that pleasure is tempered by the bias AI learns through natural language processing<\/a>. For example, if the word doctor is grouped with male pronouns more often and nurse is grouped with female pronouns more often in natural language, then AI learns this pattern and determines doctors are usually men and women are usually nurses. From that point forward, the information that is aggregated and sent to you will be influenced by that bias. Over time, this creates an environment in which AI bias can become predictive by the manner in which it filters the information you receive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are ways for programmers to address such bias, but companies\nmay not be motivated to do so if no one is paying attention, especially if the\nbias is feeding their bottom line. I know this may seem trivial on the surface,\nbut it can affect our medical care, food choices, dating options, job\nopportunities, business success, and whether or not we receive our phone calls.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research<\/a> has shown that AI is more accurate than a majority of radiologists in reading mammograms but less accurate than the most accurate humans. That means your best chance for an accurate diagnosis would be the most accurate humans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a practical matter, there\u2019s no way to know who those are.\nThat\u2019s where AI can be a useful tool. What if all mammograms were read by both\na radiologist and AI? Essentially, the technology would work as a second\nopinion. If the two diagnoses differed, then a second human opinion could be\nconsulted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as medical AI expands into more areas of medicine, the\npossibility grows that it could carry undetected bias as well. Studies that\nidentify possible substance use disorder patients based on the language in\ntheir tweets can be affected by the algorithms Twitter uses. Not to mention, I\nbelieve there are people who can have drug using friends and not participate.\nBut they still may use the language of those around them and risk being improperly\nidentified and stigmatized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data is important and useful, but it often presents an incomplete\nor flawed profile. Think of the sheer number of fake profiles on dating sites\nor the number of polyurethane handbags that show up in a search for genuine\nleather handbags. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, I received numerous job listings for\nepidemiologist positions in Los Angeles. I am not remotely qualified to be an\nepidemiologist and I live 1500 miles from LA, but something in my online\nhistory made search engines think those jobs were appropriate. While AI seems\nlike a great tool for matching people with jobs, it may not bring the\ncandidates you need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I say all of this mostly to raise awareness of what is happening behind our screens and to remind you that artificial intelligence is a limited tool. It cannot be trusted to replace human intelligence. We must provide the checks and balances it needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, that will soon be critical to thriving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Technology as a Health Advocate<\/a><\/blockquote>