What Problem Are We Trying to Solve With Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare in Canada?

Abstract

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is not a "flash in the pan." As Howell et al. (2024) have described, AI has been evolving since the 1950s, from decision trees to machine learning to generative AI that can create new content. These developments were foreshadowed by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in a story first published in 1942 in which he outlined three rules of robotics, to the effect that they must not harm humans (Asimov 1950). Fast forward to 2015; Ashrafian (2015) proposed an additional law for AI systems that interact with each other: "all robots endowed with comparable human reason and conscience should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."