Want to let an AI-powered doctor loose on patients? Try slapping a food-label-like sticker on it, says Uncle Sam

The US Food and Drug Administration wants manufacturers to specifically label AI-powered medical devices to help patients understand the technology, and to test them on real-world data to see how they perform in the wild beyond clinical environments. The watchdog has published a five-point action plan on regulating standalone …

[Pascal Monett]

"help patients understand the technology"

Here's a simple explanation :

It's statistics. We're using math to guess the result, and we don't have a clue why it works when it does.

There is no such thing as AI.

There. Reassured ?

[Danny Boyd]

Re: "help patients understand the technology"

The label should say: "AI-powered. If you have no advanced degree in CS to understand what it implies, run for your life."

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: "help patients understand the technology"

This LCD thermometer is powered by advanced statistical technology - it ignores all the actual readings form the sensor and gives you an answer that's made up by maths - we call it "averaging"

[Version 1.0]

Re: "help patients understand the technology"

If I have any symptoms I just search the internet... in Scotland.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that.......

Quote: "Algorithms are improved and updated by training on new data, and it’s important to make sure that despite these changes, devices remain safe for medical use."

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"Updated" -- yes -- "improved" -- who knows? And how does providing PATIENTS with a label saying "Inside this box there is some software" make the slightest difference.....except maybe to worry those patients.

*

2001 -- I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that!

[Mike 137]

Re: I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that.......

'...a label saying "Inside this box there is some software"'

To reassure them completely, maybe expand that to "Inside this box there is some software that may or may not make the right diagnosis depending on the information it's been exposed to in the past. But it gets it right quite often."

[Filippo]

Re: I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that.......

In fairness, the same label could be sticked to the doctor's forehead, and it would be mostly accurate.