There has been a lot of talk about artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare and even some real-life applications of the technology. But AI has not yet become pervasive in the industry. 

What can we expect for AI use in healthcare in the future? Here are some predictions from six chief innovation and digital hospital executives from US hospitals and health systems.

• Freeing up time for clinicians for more effective practice. Omer Awan from Atrium Health believes that AI has tremendous opportunity to automate image diagnosis, preliminary diagnosis, decrease medication errors and detect fraud. He also sees AI providing value robotic-assisted surgery and virtual caregivers/nursing assistants.
• Helping to meet increasing demand for providers and caregivers. Aaron Martin at Providence in Washington state sees AI as helping to solve the problem of increased demand for providers. As the ranks of baby boomers increases and other demographic groups grow, more providers and caregivers will be needed. Martin predicts that AI can take over in low acuity and low risk situations, allowing clinicians to practice at the top of their licenses.
• Improving back-end processes. Peter Fleischut, MD, at NewYour-Presbyterian Hospital is excited about being able to move more people to the front lines by using AI to take care of the back end, thus being able to care for more patients. He sees AI used for HR, finance, IT and clinical trials.
• Reducing/eliminating errors and reducing costs. Omkar Kulkarni at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles says that AI’s consistency is valuable, and that purpose-built AI tools can be of great benefit.
• Analyzing patterns and covert dependencies. Muthu Krishnan, PHD at IKS Health sees this function as helpful to make appropriate administrative and clinical decisions.
• Early disease detection and diagnosis. Nick Patel, MD at Prisma Health sees this function as a benefit for clinicians and, ultimately, patients.