LMU: LMU medical expert expects AI to lead to better prognoses, but more validation work is needed

Artificial intelligence has become hugely more important in medicine. This is mainly due to the availability of ever increasing amounts of patient data. “Genetics and imaging are allowing us to gain more and more detailed insights into diseases,” explains Professor Nikolaos Koutsouleris, who practices as a specialist in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, speaking in the LMU’s second virtual AI Lecture. Despite this, he says, humans are often unable to properly process this much information because of limiting factors such as personnel or time availability, cognitive capacity and financial factors. The result of that is misdiagnosis.

AI can help clinical staff make the right diagnostic decisions and identify the optimal treatment options for patients. By way of example, Koutsouleris cites a study of AI-based breast cancer screening that looked at clinicians and patients from the UK and the United States. The study demonstrated that AI was able to provide almost better prognoses than when two clinicians screened these patients. “When only one clinician screened the patients, AI was actually superior,” states Koutsouleris. “Furthermore, the technology can serve as a kind of early warning system for affected individuals to seek medical treatment in a timely manner. That can save lives.”