8 ms·

> the market for radiologists is shrinking On the contrary, it's expanding and there's a global shortage of them [1]. AI has been changing the role of radiolo

> the market for radiologists is shrinking On the contrary, it's expanding and there's a global shortage of them [1]. AI has been changing the role of radiologists but not replacing it [2] and radiologists are needed more than ever, but the industry has been struggling to communicate this to students worried by ill-informed claims the profession is under threat from AI [3]. [1] https://www.rsna.org/news/2022/may/global-radiologist-shortage https://www.rsna.org/news/2022/may/global-radiologist-shorta... [2] https://www.hcinnovationgroup.com/imaging/radiology/article/53028785/a-european-radiology-leader-looks-at-ais-longterm-impact-on-radiology https://www.hcinnovationgroup.com/imaging/radiology/article/... [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10131993/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10131993/

nvy 3y ago
I think it's two sides of the same coin. Demand for medical imaging is not necessarily the same as demand for human radiologists. One radiologist can service 2 or 3 hospitals thanks to the internet, and "AI" is getting better at radiology too. Human-AI Augmentation is happening right now. When steam drills were becoming the norm I'm sure some mining firms were struggling to hire human diggers too.
- yoden 3y ago
  The demand for human radiologists never actually went down, though[1]. There is improved efficiency due to technology, but it hasn't kept up with increased demand for scanning and increased patient volumes. There's also induced demand caused by efficiency increasing. Diagnostic AI tends to make different kinds of errors than a human, so even if it were better, both together is even stronger. The "Radiologists are being replaced by technology" story has been repeated so many times by uninformed software developers that it has become popular wisdom, but the reality so far is that we need more radiologists than ever. Ironically, radiology might be a decent proxy for what could happen with software engineering, but in the opposite way you intend. [1] https://marvel-b1-cdn.bc0a.com/f00000000046012/info.vrad.com/hubfs/Supply%20Demand%20Graph.png https://marvel-b1-cdn.bc0a.com/f00000000046012/info.vrad.com...

nvy 3y ago

I think it's two sides of the same coin. Demand for medical imaging is not necessarily the same as demand for human radiologists. One radiologist can service 2 or 3 hospitals thanks to the internet, and "AI" is getting better at radiology too. Human-AI Augmentation is happening right now. When steam drills were becoming the norm I'm sure some mining firms were struggling to hire human diggers too.

yoden 3y ago
The demand for human radiologists never actually went down, though[1]. There is improved efficiency due to technology, but it hasn't kept up with increased demand for scanning and increased patient volumes. There's also induced demand caused by efficiency increasing. Diagnostic AI tends to make different kinds of errors than a human, so even if it were better, both together is even stronger. The "Radiologists are being replaced by technology" story has been repeated so many times by uninformed software developers that it has become popular wisdom, but the reality so far is that we need more radiologists than ever. Ironically, radiology might be a decent proxy for what could happen with software engineering, but in the opposite way you intend. [1] https://marvel-b1-cdn.bc0a.com/f00000000046012/info.vrad.com/hubfs/Supply%20Demand%20Graph.png https://marvel-b1-cdn.bc0a.com/f00000000046012/info.vrad.com...