Who can an AI take care of?
The circulation of respiratory viruses, especially influenza, has once again put healthcare services, which have been operating at their limit for far too long, to the test. Each epidemic confirms this. And while we here cope as best we can with the pressure on our healthcare system, thousands of kilometers away in China, paths are being explored that could radically transform our understanding of medicine.
Tsinghua University in Beijing has created the Agent Hospital, a medical center entirely managed by artificial intelligence (AI), where no humans work. Doctors, nurses, and patients are digital entities capable of diagnosing, planning treatments, and providing clinical follow-up thanks to systems trained on thousands of cases. A virtual staff of just fourteen doctors and four nurses can attend to three thousand patients a day. Diagnostic accuracy reaches 93% for certain diseases. The project, which began a few months ago as a simulation, is already being implemented in real hospitals, currently as a complementary technological support.
Artificial intelligence—which is not intelligent, but algorithmic—will increasingly play a more prominent role in many sensitive areas of our lives. In the field of health, its promises are undeniable, as are its dangers. It can contribute to the early detection of diseases, support diagnoses and treatments, optimize resources, and reduce errors. But the risk arises when these advances cease to be mere tools and begin to occupy irreplaceable human roles.
Caregiving has a technical aspect, but it is also a relational act, profoundly human, that requires intelligence to truly listen, observe attentively, and attend with sensitivity. Machines can do admirable things, but they have enormous limitations. For now, and fortunately, they cannot interpret the ambiguity of language, silences, or the complexities of life; they are also unaware of the pain or fear of others, and they become lost when venturing into the depths of the human being.
The unique and indispensable role of so many doctors and nurses in healthcare is very evident. Where AI accelerates, they know when to stop. Where AI processes, they understand. Where AI operates virtually, they offer their presence. AI can help, and help a great deal, but it cannot replace what only humans can do, and what we must never stop wanting to do.
Whether in China or here, AI is here to stay and is beginning to shape a new way of being a healthcare professional and a patient. Faced with this technological revolution, it's wise to avoid both naive enthusiasm and apocalyptic rejection, adopting a critical and prudent approach, capable of recognizing the potential of these tools without losing sight of or abandoning the human dimension of healthcare. We trust that human intelligence, which has made AI possible, will maintain the proper hierarchy to ensure that algorithms always serve society.
