Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Preparing for the Confirmed Inevitable. Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

Andrey V. Rezaev, Piotr K. Yablonskiy

The AI in Medicine project began with a simple yet complex and multilevel question. In late 2017, prompted by direct experience of researching human-machine interchanges, we asked whether the traditional principles of interaction between a physician and a patient in the time of technological and computer revolution had changed. That, in turn, led to other questions. Was the very concept of principles of doctor-patient interaction, as an interaction between ‘Subject’ and ‘Object’, still relevant in the 21st century? While such principles are not deterministic, in the past they were followed meticulously. Whether they still wield their original instructive power is an intriguing question. But it is not our immediate purpose. We do not intend to replace one set of principles, locked up to time and place, with another set equally constrained. We acknowledge that there would be no quick and easy answers. As an initial move we simply seek to elicit the right questions.

We hope our paper will offer a mechanism for constructive engagement, discussion and discovery. The broadest possible engagement is crucial to meeting the kaleidoscope of irregular issues in interactions between medical professionals and general public that characterizes our time of Internet dominance.

More importantly, the paper extends an invitation to think anew, across the traditional barriers of scholarly disciplines, policies and habits.

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