Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly touching more aspects of modern life, offering great promise, but also great risk. The great potential and concerning influences of AI on medicine, clinicians and patients will be examined by one of its early adopters, Paul A. Friedman, MD, during today’s Eugene Braunwald Keynote.

Friedman’s first published research in the AI space dates back to 2010, investigating the use of AI to inform early diagnosis of various cardiac issues.

Friedman is an electrophysiologist and the Norman Blane and Billie Jean Harty Chair at the Mayo Clinic’s department of cardiovascular medicine in Rochester, MN. His background is in electrical engineering and includes multidisciplinary studies spanning history, philosophy and the humanities. This eclectic undergraduate education continues to pay dividends as he collaborates with ethicists, lawyers, engineers and AI scientists to develop a comprehensive, thoughtful approach to incorporating AI into medical practice.

Friedman’s Keynote will examine emerging biomarkers that are driving advances in early diagnosis, the expedited processing of data through AI and the thoughtful application of this information into clinical practice.

“I want to demonstrate in real practical terms how AI is fundamentally transforming the paradigm of medicine by allowing us to detect disease early in areas in which we can intervene and affect people’s lives – prevent them from dying and from having hospitalizations,” Friedman says. “AI enables us to see subtle patterns and detect disease before it manifests.”

From his electrophysiology perspective, Friedman considers the “mountains of physiologic data” captured by catheter ablation procedures and implantable cardiac devices as an untapped opportunity to detect disease earlier and to act on these diagnoses more effectively.

“As I gained experience, my thinking evolved from marveling at the remarkable advanced invasive treatments we can offer patients to instead contemplating the use of all of this information to identify when someone has an impending problem,” he explains.

Friedman also points out that many clinicians already are using AI scribes to generate notes for patient health records. This tool helps clinicians save time in completing administrative tasks and allows patients more access to information about their conditions.

But with the promise of accelerating detection, improving care and making information more accessible, expanded use of AI throughout the medical field presents various concerns and potential drawbacks.

“As powerful as these tools are, they come with risks,” Friedman says. “I think we need to acknowledge and address them and talk about what we can do as a community to ensure AI is used for good. As Uncle Ben told Spiderman – and Voltaire said years before that – with great power comes great responsibility.”

It is important to accept that AI is transforming medicine, he says, adding, “The question is whether we will be driving the change or whether we will be driven by it. I’d like to see physicians in partnership with scientists, engineers, ethicists and other dedicated professionals leading the change, and ensuring the deployment of AI in medicine is for the good of humanity.”

Clinical Topics: Arrhythmias and Clinical EP, Implantable Devices, SCD/Ventricular Arrhythmias, Atrial Fibrillation/Supraventricular Arrhythmias

Keywords: Cardiology Magazine, ACC Publications, ACC Annual Scientific Session, ACC26, Artificial Intelligence, Electrophysiology