There is an undeniable truth that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next frontier for the healthcare industry. Several sources have already pegged the market to be worth $36.1 billion by 2025. AI is defined as “the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning (the acquisition of information and rules for using the information), reasoning (using rules to reach approximate or definite conclusions) and self-correction.” A regulatory framework needs to be developed that will govern how AI will be used in the healthcare industry.
Stephen Hawking recently raised concerns to the UN, citing that “I am concerned about the rise of AI and how to regulate it.” Regulating AI is one of the most hotly contested debates with lawyers and technologists weighing a machine future and mulling over AI law. Regulatory consulting for the AI Healthcare market will continue to be a hot topic as it continues to infiltrate the industry.
How do we make AI accountable? How do we regulate non-human behaviour? The UK government has already inquired into AI and its economic, social and ethical implications. AI development has three key developments in computer power, data, and algorithms. These algorithms are uniquely written pieces of code, of which the writers will need guidance and compliance. Think of The Matrix, where Neo straps in and learns all of the known martial arts styles by implementing a new code or software into his computerized brain. Similarly, AI will have various healthcare software that will be continuously updated and implemented into machines. Governments around the world will need to determine the short and long-term risks associated with AI systems on social and economic impacts.
There is a caveat to all of this, of course – and that is the fact that it (most likely) will not be received all too well, at least initially, by society. Fortunately, or unfortunately, our society operates by advancement, and the future is intelligent automation. We have everyday conversations with Alexa and Google Home. Facebook, the world’s premier social platform, has the most advanced A.I. algorithms of all through its LookaLike Audience feature; it targets ads to people matching the social criteria through interactions to that of your business page.
The framework will need to acknowledge and address the coming cognitive abilities of A.I. and robotics. Imagine a world where we don’t have a regulatory and legal framework to hold software companies, and individual contractors accountable for their actions. Simply put, the risk would be too high. A.I. at its finest will be a Deep Learning “DL” algorithm that continues to advance its knowledge from more data and adapts. Eventually, it will no longer be the same algorithm, opening the floodgates for loopholes into the rules and regulations already established. “The regulatory cycle is not set up to address the machine learning environment,” says Elad Benjamin, Co-founder & CEO at Zebra Medical Vision.
There is no better example of the extraordinary impact of A.I. than that of the transformation in financial services. At the end of 2017, 52% of banks reported making substantial investments in AI and 66% said they planned to do so by the end of 2020. The stakes are enormous — one study found that banks that invest in AI could see their revenue increase by 34% by 2022, while another suggests that AI could cut costs and increase productivity across the industry to the tune of $1 trillion by 2030.
The message is loud and clear, A.I. is here to stay, and it will be critical to remain aware of the changing regulatory environment. It is without a doubt that the regulatory regime across all industries will be drastically changing, much in the same way we saw of the industrial revolution. The future is coming, and no consulting company will be better equipped to help navigate you through the upcoming legislative revolution than dicentra. With over sixteen years in service, dicentra prides itself in being adaptive to change and continuously adding to its roster of consulting services – jumping on hot trends and new innovations in order to stay ahead of the competition.
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dicentra provides sought-after guidance on product and marketing compliance, quality assurance and safety standards, research and development, new ingredient assessments and overall regulatory strategies for food and health-related products sold in North American marketplaces. We can also assist you with your classification determinations for delivery systems or combination drug-device products.