Google's AMIE chatbot tested with 98 patients before urgent care visits
None of the chatbot's conversations had to be interrupted under preset safety criteria, and its differential diagnoses matched the final diagnoses doctors reached in 90% of cases, Google said.
AI illustrationGoogle's diagnostic research chatbot, AMIE, was tested with 98 patients, who consulted it before their urgent care visits. None of the conversations had to be interrupted under safety criteria set in advance, the company said.
Researchers from Google and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) led the study at the medical center's primary care clinic, where supervising physicians followed the exchanges in real time. The research was published in a journal on 8 October. Google said it was the company's first paper in that journal. It described the study as an encouraging early look at whether AI can safely gauge what patients need before they see a doctor.
Clinicians said the summaries produced by the AI helped them get ready for the visit in 75% of cases and influenced how they approached care in more than half. According to Google, the final diagnoses reached by doctors matched AMIE's differential diagnoses 90% of the time.
Google said assessing AI that deals directly with patients at scale requires larger clinical trials. It said the findings suggest AI has the potential to improve the relationship between patients and physicians and to relieve pressure on healthcare workers.