Speaker
Eric Perakslis, PhD
Chief Science & Digital Officer
Duke Clinical Research Institute
Professor, Department of Population Health Sciences
Chief Research Technology Strategist
Duke University School of Medicine
Keywords
Artificial intelligence; Machine learning; Gamification; Healthcare
Key Points
- Once people start learning about what technology can do right and wrong, the immediate response is often to start minimizing the risks of technology. However, Dr. Perakslis advocates that “instead of spending time and energy solving small problems, we should be solving big problems with bold solutions.”
- The key to quality AI and utilizing AI in a beneficial way relates to the quality of the data. It’s important for organizations to recognize this and upgrade their data in order to use these technologies more effectively and efficiently.
- “Serious games” are games designed for a purpose beyond pure entertainment. They use motivation, game design, competition, curiosity, collaboration, challenges, media, and learning to accomplish something. An example of when serious games have been useful is the creation of video games to treat depression and insomnia. However, gamification could have serious negative effects, and the benefits of these games in health care would relate to how well or how poorly they’re gamified, based on data, execution, and use cases. It’s important that people apply good judgement when utilizing these new technologies, especially in fields of science and medicine.
- Serious games pique the interest of people and can increase their likelihood of continuing a behavior. This can be useful in the context of clinical trials. For example, if the method of patient reported outcomes is gamified, patients will be more likely to continue reporting their outcomes on a regular basis rather than giving up or forgetting after the first time, which may increase the quality and quantity of data for the trial overall.
- In an interactive video game, people interact with NPCs (non-player characters). Those NPCs learn from interacting with human intelligence. This concept could be an interesting way to think about consent. In some ways, the idealized informed consent process would be one where the patients could ask the questions on their mind and get the answers, rather than only checking boxes on a plethora of situations that feel foreign to them. There are still risks associated with this process, but gamifying the game could ultimately create a more individualized approach to health care that prioritize the needs of each patient.
- Today’s toughest health care problems could be easily gamified so that people can access technologies that allow them to ask and answer questions. Implementing this is critical and doable according to Dr. Perakslis. The key is to have a deep understanding and control over the data being used. The smallest change in data can completely change the results when AI is involved.
Discussion Themes
-It seems like the speed of AI use is accelerating and our awareness isn’t keeping up. What is going to keep AI in the boundaries for health hand research right now? People need to be really focused. Tech companies that are promoting AI and rolling out these new tools quickly are going to be in the cross hairs of the aftermath when those tools are inevitably misused. It’s important to be thoughtful in picking partners to work with and making sure you ask the right questions before proceeding. The bleeding edge of these technologies is human talent, so if you’re struggling to keep up in this space, hire smart people. It’s also important to focus on the basics (cleaning up your data, etc.) before jumping into these new technologies to ensure the technologies work in your favor.
-Do you think AI within the context of health and research will be replacing people? If there’s one thing that’s absolutely true it’s that these new technologies can produce an unprecedented amount content, which is good and bad. For people, there are some jobs that will inevitably be replaced by these new technologies. However, these new technologies are more likely to replace people who can’t use the new technologies. The important thing is to learn and adapt to the changes.
Tags
#pctGR, @Collaboratory1