AMA Future of Health: The Emerging Landscape of Augmented Intelligence in Health Care

The AMA is committed to ensuring that the evolution of augmented intelligence (AI) in medicine benefits patients, physicians and the health care community by leading the way. This includes:

• Developing AI principles for the use of AI in health care.
• Supporting the development of state and federal policies that ensure appropriate oversight and continued innovation in AI.
• Collaborating with health and technology leaders to research AI’s applications and ensure that physicians have a leading voice in shaping AI’s role in medicine.
• Supporting physician education on AI through research, resource development, and standard-setting as it relates to the ethical, equitable, responsible, and transparently designed, developed, and deployed AI.

This report (PDF) lays out a landscape view of AI in health care today and aims to create a common vocabulary around AI. The report provides an overview of current and future use cases, potential applications of AI, opportunities and risks physicians should be aware of, and underscores the AMA’s commitment to ensuring the physician voice is leading health care AI forward.

There are a variety of challenges and risks that come with the rapidly evolving use of AI that physicians need to be aware of including:

1. Bias may exacerbate existing social inequities. Careful evaluation and mitigation strategies are essential to address bias in AI models.
2. End user understanding of how an AI model works, including transparency regarding what data the model is trained on when AI is being used.
3. Being aware of hallucinations, which occur when a generative AI algorithm creates an output that is either nonsensical or appears credible but is factually inaccurate.

   How to ethically utilize AI

   When used ethically, augmented intelligence (AI) has the power to serve as a transformative and powerful tool for physicians.

   Read Now on AMA Ed Hub™
4. Liability resulting from inaccuracies or misuse is an evolving concern, and determining responsibility for adverse outcomes involving AI tools is complex and unsettled.
5. Coding and payment for AI tools is a growing area, marked by the establishment of CPT codes. Developing common terminology for categorizing AI tools is crucial for their widespread use.
6. Privacy, security and the protection of personal data must be considered when using AI, as with other health care data and technologies.
7. The regulatory landscape for AI in health care is evolving, with increased federal and state-level activity. Regulatory challenges include the rapid development of AI technologies and the complexity of issues like data privacy, liability and transparency.

The AMA developed this report for physicians interested in exploring the potential of AI in health care. In addition to providing details on current challenges, it also provides an analysis of AI’s opportunities and offers guidance on key considerations for integrating AI-based tools into clinical or administrative practices.