AI, AI, Oh

With apologies in advance to Old McDonald for the title!

Not a day goes by without news around artificial intelligence improving a wide range of human endeavours, be it in earlier diagnosis of prostate cancer to developing solutions to tackle climate change. The myriad of benefits are often met with warnings around the law of unintended consequences, with some suggesting many employment roles will be lost, adding to youth unemployment, which is already a challenge for the UK in particular. But what about oral health care? Where is AI most likely to impact most, and will it mean a seismic change in how oral health care is delivered?

Perhaps starting with a definition of AI from the Information Commissioners Office may be a good starting point:¹

‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be defined in many ways. However, within this guidance, we define it as an umbrella term for a range of algorithm-based technologies that solve complex tasks by carrying out functions that previously required human thinking. Decisions made using AI are either fully automated, or with a ‘human in the loop’. As with any other form of decision-making, those impacted by an AI supported decision should be able to hold someone accountable for it.’