Artificial Intelligence beyond Chess: Opportunities for Medicine, Public Health, and Social Medicine

Abstract

History was created in 1997 when Deep Blue, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled chess engine, beat the world chess champion. Since then AI and machine learning are being increasingly used in other fields including health care to perform complex tasks. The present commentary compares chess and medicine and how lessons learnt from the application of AI in chess leading to “advanced chess†can be used to develop AI enabled “advanced medicine.†It supports the proposition that while at present it may appear that advances in medical technology are putting a strain on the doctor-patient relationship, in the long run AI and machine learning have the potential to enrich medical care by giving the gift of time to doctors to facilitate better communication with patients and win their trust. Impact of AI and machine learning on Public Health and their role in reviving of Social Medicine has also been discussed.