The Future and the wage(r)s of AI
As far back as I can recall, I have been an enthusiastic reader. My favorite (or at least most memorable) experiences in grade school revolved around the times the Scholastic Book Service came to school (I’m happy to see they’re still around. By the time I got to middle school (we called it junior high school), my primary reading interests had bifurcated into World War II on the non-fiction side of things and science fiction on the reverse side of the coin, particularly the works of Arthur C. Clarke. I remember the awe I experienced when I first saw “2001: A Space Odyssey” at the movies. I don’t know if it was the first movie to do so, but it was definitely my first all-sensory exposure to the notions of artificial intelligence (AI). I remember my sense that “2001: A Space Odyssey” was rather more of a cautionary tale than not, but framed within the notion that (remember, this was back in 1968 and I was a wee lad) this was a far-off (if not far-out) future. For some reason, I didn’t latch on so much to the possibility of extraterrestrial existence, but the AI aspect definitely stayed with me. Could I have possibly read R.U.R. by this point? I can’t imagine that I had, but stranger things have happened. And in thinking of all the improvements in technology as it relates to healthcare (even thinking of all those perioperative departments jam-packed with equipment—I guess miniaturization of equipment never made it to surgery beyond implants) the last 40-plus years have been a whirlwind of changes.
And so, we appear to be crossing the threshold into what could be the most sweeping transcendence of all: how is AI going to impact the management of the healthcare physical environment (or will the list of things it won’t impact be infinitely shorter)? Whether we like it or not, the future is here (as it reliably does every day), but there are definitely some considerations of how we face that future. Time magazine recently published a really interesting piece about the philosophical wagers that will (no doubt) be made in the casinos of AI. Going all in may be the only safe bet.
About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Chartis Group. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is an advisory board member for Accreditation and Quality Compliance Center. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.