Dr. Mohammad Fawzi Katranji has joked on Instagram that he may soon lose his job to AI and apply at McDonald’s. The pulmonologist, with 18 years’ experience, tested an AI tool on chest X-rays.
The Dubai-based doctor, who serves at Al Zahra Hospital, wanted to see if it could detect pneumonia like a professional doctor.
Surprisingly, the AI pointed out the same spots instantly. It even found something he missed, which helped the patient recover after treatment.
“I am about to lose my job. “This is scary because I developed the skill over 20 years, which lets me look at an X-ray and point to pneumonia,” he said.
“Now, here comes AI, and they pick it up in a second. Now, you don’t need professional eyes to look at these X-rays. You just have artificial intelligence. They picked up pneumonia,” the doctor said.
“So, I am going to be applying to McDonald’s soon, and I hope they have some openings,” he added.
His post received mixed reactions. Some support AI, saying it allows doctors to focus more on patients. Others say AI lacks human judgment and doctors are still necessary for understanding what an issue means.
“AI will enable you to help more people and take more TIME for each patient of yours. It’s a gain and an opportunity and not a threat for great doctors like you!” commented one user.
Another user wrote, “It doesn’t necessarily take over your job, you can use it to greatly save time which you can invest in helping other people or yourself.”
Apple’s AI push in healthcare
Apple is planning to upgrade its Health app with an ‘AI doctor’ feature. The compahy aims to use artificial intelligence to support health needs, per Bloomberg.
Apple is working on Project Mulberry to improve its Health app. As per Bloomberg, the updated app will have an AI health coach that gives advice like a real doctor.
It will collect data from devices like iPhones, Apple Watch, earbuds and more. Using this data, the AI will give personalised tips to help users stay healthy.
Apple CEO Tim Cook believes Apple’s biggest gift to mankind will be in healthcare. Though non-invasive glucose monitoring is still far off, the company wants to use AI to improve users’ health and well-being.
“If you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, ‘What was Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind?’ it will be about health,” Cook said in 2019.