AI could be double-edged sword for neurological care, study finds

 

Relying on AI likely means the status quo will never change. Right now stroke is a complete shitshow and if AI becomes prevalent the research needed to solve stroke won't occur!

AI is almost completely worthless until the underlying research for 100% recovery is there!

And there's that fucking useless word; 'care' NOT RECOVERY! 

AI could be double-edged sword for neurological care, study finds

AI tools that help detect strokes or seizures could worsen health disparities without safeguards, a new study warns.mA report examining the technology’s growing role in brain disease diagnosis calls for safeguards to prevent vulnerable populations being left behind. While the technology has shown promise in helping doctors classify brain tumours faster and analyse stroke imaging more efficiently, researchers warn its reliance on large datasets could disadvantage patients already underrepresented in medical research. The report, co-authored by UCLA Health, found that AI systems trained primarily on data from certain demographic groups may perform poorly when diagnosing conditions in underserved communities. At the same time, researchers identified clear opportunities for the technology to improve care(NOT RECOVERY!) in resource-limited settings. AI could help healthcare providers recognise early signs of neurological diseases through clinical notes, improve recruitment of underrepresented groups in research studies, and monitor whether all patient populations receive equal quality care(NOT RECOVERY!). The study’s senior author Dr Adys Mendizabal is a neurologist and health services investigator at UCLA Health. The researcher said: “That means that AI could help doctors in areas with a shortage of neurologists to recognise neurological diseases months earlier, ensure medications match what patients can afford, automatically write medication instructions in the patient’s primary language and flag when certain populations are being systematically excluded from clinical trials.” “The technology exists. We just need to build it with equity as the foundation.” Consulting with healthcare professionals, AI experts, Food and Drug Administration officials and an AI company, Dr Mendizabal and researchers from nine other universities created three guiding principles for future implementation. First, diverse perspectives must shape AI development. Healthcare institutions should involve community advisory boards reflecting local demographics to ensure tools are culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate. Secondly, neurologists need proper AI education. Researchers must understand that AI is not infallible and should be trained to recognise potential biases in algorithmic outputs.Thirdly, strong governance is essential. Independent oversight with clear accountability must monitor AI performance, investigate failures and give patients the ability to report concerns or delete their health data. The report emphasises that AI’s benefits in neurological care(NOT RECOVERY!) are already evident. The technology can analyse brain scans to detect tumours, identify stroke patterns and detect seizures. In resource-limited areas, it could enable earlier diagnosis of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. However, these advances come with risks.AI algorithms trained on datasets that lack diversity may perpetuate existing healthcare inequalities. For example, a stroke detection system trained primarily on brain scans from one ethnic group may be less accurate when used on patients from different backgrounds. Investigators said governance of AI must evolve alongside the technology, requiring constant collaboration between government regulators, healthcare institutions, AI developers and patients. “We are at a critical moment,” Dr Mendizabal said. “The decisions we make now on how to develop and deploy AI in healthcare will determine whether this technology becomes a force for equity or another barrier to care(NOT RECOVERY!).”