Nine years ago, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton sent shock waves through medicine by declaring it โjust completely obviousโ that AI would make radiologists extinct in short order. Fast-forward and the specialists โ who do more than analyze images โ are thriving, observes The New York Times. In fact, the field is experiencing explosive growth amid a looming workforce crisis. (According to projections from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the U.S. will face a staggering shortage of up to 42,000 radiologists and other physician specialists by 2033.)
Rather than stealing jobs, notes the piece, AI has become radiologistsโ secret weapon, allowing them to instantly measure organs, automatically flag abnormalities, and even detect diseases years before conventional methods. At the Mayo Clinic, where radiologist numbers have skyrocketed by 55% since Hintonโs prediction, the radiology department has grown to include a 40-person team of AI scientists, researchers, analysts, and engineers who have licensed and developed more than 250 AI models, ranging from tissue analyzers to disease predictors.
โFive years from now, it will be malpractice not to use AI,โ says John Halamka, president of the Mayo Clinic Platform, who oversees the health systemโs digital initiatives, in the article.
