How AI could help doctors detect patterns | Christopher Petrilli, MD

Cognitive Biases and Pattern Recognition - The human brain is wired to identify patterns for survival, but this can lead to finding patterns where they don't exist, a phenomenon called apophenia [1][2][3][4] - Cognitive biases, like availability bias, can cause inaccurate or illogical decision-making, even among skilled professionals such as doctors [5][6][7] - Emotions can impair the ability to understand probability objectively, leading to misinterpretations of data and potentially harmful consequences [9][10][11][12] Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare - AI is a fast and accurate pattern detector capable of processing vast amounts of data, but it is trained on human data and can therefore reflect human biases [7][8][13] - AI can surface potential diagnoses that human doctors may not consider, highlighting its potential as a diagnostic tool [15][16] - A partnership between AI and human intelligence is crucial for accurate diagnoses and better decision-making in high-stakes situations [17][18] Numeracy and Probability - Numeracy, the ability to understand and work with numbers, and probability are essential for objective decision-making [8][9] - Misunderstanding probability can lead to severe consequences, as illustrated by the Sally Clark case where incorrect statistical analysis resulted in a wrongful conviction [10][11][12]