Mint Primer: Dr AI is here, but will the human touch go away?
Just how do these AI clinics function?
Synyi AI works with hospitals in China, using AI for diagnosis and medical research. Its new clinic, built with Saudi Arabia's Almoosa Health Group as a pilot, is led by an AI 'doctor". Christened Dr Hua, it independently conducts consultations, diagnoses, and suggests treatments via a tablet. A human doctor then reviews and approves each plan. This marks a shift from AI as a support tool to primary care providers. The AI doctor covers about 30 respiratory illnesses, including asthma and pharyngitis. Synyi plans to expand its scope to 50 conditions including gastrointestinal and dermatological problems.
Read more: Mint Primer: A robot for every 3 humans: What happens to us?
From assistant to doc seems like a jump...
Not really. AI systems already assist with checking symptoms, asking routine questions, and prioritizing patients before doctors take over. They can interpret scans and flag critical results. Hospitals in South Korea, China, India and the UAE use AI to manage logistics, bed-use and infection control. In May 2024, Tsinghua University went a step further when it introduced a virtual 'Agent Hospital" with large language model (LLM)-powered doctors. Months later, Bauhinia Zhikang launched 42 AI doctors across 21 departments for internal testing of their diagnostics. With Synyi AI, fully autonomous clinics may become commonplace.
What can AI doctors do that humans can't?
AI tools from Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Nvidia can analyze X-rays, medical records and large datasets with precision and speed. They also generate treatment summaries. Unlike humans, AI doctors don't get tired. They can handle up to 10,000 patients a week, compared with around 100 by a typical human doctor—valuable in overburdened health systems.
Can AI replace human doctors entirely?
AI excels at repetitive, data-heavy tasks like diagnosing common illnesses, analyzing scans and flagging abnormalities. Surgical robots like Da Vinci are used in hospitals worldwide, including Apollo, AIIMS and Fortis in India. But AI lacks empathy, moral reasoning, and adaptability in complex or unclear cases. Even at Synyi's AI-run clinic, a human doctor must approve each decision. Over-promising, too, can be risky. Babylon Health collapsed after its claims of diagnosing better than doctors fell short.
Read more: AI application startups in India set to get more investments from VC firms Accel, Peak XV, Lightspeed
Can AI in healthcare be trusted?
There is a need for supervision given growing use in Asia—from surgical robots in South Korea, China, Japan and India to home-care AI research in Singapore. But regulation is catching up: Europe's AI Act, the US FDA and the World Health Organisation (WHO) all emphasize transparency, safety, and ethics, especially as LLMs can hallucinate (provide false answers confidently) and show bias. India's medical ethics code requires doctors to disclose AI use to patients. Keeping human doctors in the loop remains key for trust.
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