The disruptive technology of artificial intelligence has made massive strides in the past decade, playing a prominent role in the growth of businesses and companies. Nowadays, AI is viewed as a necessity for maintaining competitive advantage in some of the world’s biggest industries. More specifically, the healthcare industry has invested heavily in AI with the hope that the technology can enable better efficiency and accuracy in the medical field.
The global AI in healthcare market size is expected to grow from USD 4.9 billion in 2020 to USD 45.2 billion by 2026. One of the main factors driving this massive growth is the demand for software solutions to handle the increasing volume of healthcare data. For example, UnitedHeath Group is currently developing their own healthcare analytics service called OptumIQ, which aims to use artificial intelligence to gather and analyze patient data in order to predict and solve healthcare problems for its customers. Services such as OptumIQ aim to not only provide more accurate results for its customers in shorter times, but also reduce the costs of diagnostics and making healthcare more affordable.
More recently, the race to find a vaccine for COVID-19 fueled the demand for AI in healthcare even further as pharmaceutical and biotech companies across the world find ways to expedite their drug development process. The Cambridge-based AI drug discovery firm AI VIVO was able to use artificial intelligence to identify Dexamethasone as a high potential COVID-19 treatment 10 weeks before clinical trial results confirmed it.
The healthcare industry is a prime example of how AI has established itself as a necessity in today’s world, from helping with routine health diagnostics to finding treatments for COVID-19. With its massive expected market growth in the next decade, the potential power of AI is unlimited.
Sources:
https://www.aivivo.co/covid19june/
https://www.healthrecoverysolutions.com/blog/the-growth-of-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-healthcare
