Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again

Summary

A visit to a doctor these days is often cold, mechanical—robotic. Eye contact is scarce. Physicians spend much of their time typing. The brief, depersonalized visits lead to misdiagnoses and medical errors. Despite having access to more resources than ever, our doctors are overloaded with demands for their time and expertise.

In Deep Medicine, leading physician Eric Topol shows how artificial intelligence can help. Natural-language processing can record our doctors’ notes, make sense of our medical histories, and read more deeply into the scientific literature than any human ever could. Deep-learning algorithms—applied to wearable sensors, genomic information, blood work, scans, and all of our medical data—can create bespoke treatment plans. And virtual medical assistants, powered by personalized AI, can provide us with coaching to promote our health, shape our diet, and even prevent illness. But most importantly, by freeing physicians from the tasks that interfere with human connection, AI will give doctors the gift of time—to restore the care in healthcare.

Innovative, provocative, and hopeful, Deep Medicine shows us how the awesome power of AI can make medicine better, and reveals the paradox that machines can make humans healthier—and more human.