Opening a new chapter in health care: reporting on the inauguration of the International Conference on AI in Medicine

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform society in ways beyond the revolutions that foreshadowed it, namely the industrial, internet and digital revolutions. While being unique, the ‘AI revolution’ offers significant opportunities and presents inimitable challenges with important ethical considerations different to the eras preceding it. This is best exemplified by its emerging role in medicine, transforming healthcare delivery, improving patient outcomes and changing the way we diagnose and treat disease. Through advanced algorithms and machine learning, AI enables more accurate imaging analysis, earlier disease detection, better risk assessment, more personalised treatment and management, and many other breakthroughs such as robotic surgery and drug discovery. It facilitates the use of virtual assistants and chatbots, enhancing patients’ and care providers’ accessibility to healthcare information. With predictive analytics, it empowers healthcare providers to optimise scarce resource allocation. Excitement, discoveries and applications around AI in medicine continue to increase, progressing at a breakneck speed, with nobody being able to accurately predict what the future holds. Despite the uncertainty, AI in medicine possesses the power to alleviate some of the field’s grand challenges: containment of healthcare costs, more efficient diagnosis, precise individualised treatment, and prevention of clinician shortages and physician burnout. Many healthcare systems globally see imminent opportunities to reduce administrative burden and enhance operational efficiency, citing improving clinical documentation, structuring and analysing data, and optimising workflows as key priorities. The greatest hurdles to keeping up with rapid technology development include resource and cost constraints, acquiring acceptance and trust of healthcare providers and recipients, and deliberations and consensus of ethical, regulatory and legal considerations. To address this myriad of questions, facilitate debate and mutual understanding, and foster collaboration, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, in partnership with College of Engineering, NTU, and National Healthcare Group (NHG), Singapore, held the inaugural International Conference on AI in Medicine (iAIM) in August 2023 [Figure 1]. Over 3 days, more than 600 delegates from Singapore and international institutions participated in robust discussion and debate on the latest transformative research and applications of AI in medicine, including regulatory and ethical implications. The congress included 12 keynote lectures, two panel discussions, several parallel symposia and numerous abstract poster presentations. Here, we summarise the key points from iAIM keynote presentations.Figure 1: International Conference on AI in Medicine.IMPENDING CHANGE OF CULTURE IN HEALTH CARE The conference opened with Professor Chin Jing Jih (Chairman Medical Board, Tan Tock Seng Hospital [TTSH], Singapore) addressing ‘Medical practice in the era of AI: a rapidly changing landscape’. In his talk, Prof Chin spoke about AI representing a ‘marathon without a finishing line’ and its already transformative impact in radiology, emergency and cardiovascular medicine, sepsis and diabetes mellitus in hospital care. He also emphasised the importance of developing intelligent healthcare systems, including the need for an ‘AI culture’ within the medical workforce, and having a fundamental change in workflow and professional culture, more than technological advancement, for successful implementation. This was followed by a fireside chat with Dr Andrew Ng (Founder of DeepLearning.AI). Dr Ng depicted AI as a general purpose technology in recent future, with omnipresence and omnipotence much like electricity, and suggested that a timeline to its full adoption needs to be carefully considered, balancing rapid developments with the need for ‘thoughtful, respon