Medicine, in recent years has become heavily focused on acquiring and storing data and using that data to make medical inferences. Medicine has millions of data and research archives that have contributed to improving Medicine and the quality of care that medical professionals provide. Medicine has become a fast-paced environment in which answers to questions and test results need to be found and completed in a restricted time period. IBM found and developed an aid that increases the efficiency of medical care and aids doctors in successfully treating their patients. IBM Watson Health Database is an artificial intelligent system that runs on PIQUANT and DeepQA, two operating systems, that allow interaction between patient and Watson, and doctor and Watson (Ferrucci et al., 2010). These two softwares/systems are the brain to IBM Watson that allows it to understand the inputs from humans, dissect the keywords, analyze the information, and provide accurate and helpful information/advice based on the data provided and data already stored in the cloud. Since IBM Watson deals with personal patient information and is serving as a doctor’s “assistant” there are legal issues regarding security of personal information and ethical concerns about the possibility of the AI becoming too smart that is replaces doctors; however, there are strict laws that are regulating its use and ensuring that it is not used unethically. It is the responsibility of medical professionals and the government that medical AI does not get abused and transformed into what some people fear: robotic doctors. Currently, IBM Watson and medical AI is heading in the right direction by utilizing its technology in hospitals to help doctors make more accurate and effective decisions for the benefit of their patient’s health. Slowly, IBM Watson’s mature AI is being introduced to the public in health aids, such as the Sugar.IQ TM app that is allowing diabetes patients to monitor their own health and get real-time advice on how to improve their health (“IBM Watson Health Showcases Health Technology Advancements at American Diabetes Association’s 78th Scientific Sessions,” 2018). IBM Watson is a prime role model about how patient data can be utilized to treat patients in specific manners using precision medicine that provides the patient with the highest chance of survival.
Mobile App: IBM Watson Mobile App