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Comment Re:"Risks of clinical errors" (Score 1) 79

Yes, the details matter.

AI that can scan x-rays, analyze bloodwork, evaluate my poop for life-threatening conditions, or otherwise augment a doctor's treatment? AI models that look at millions of possible treatment plans and find the ones most likely to be successful? Wonderful.

AI systems that remove the human connections? AI that evaluates treatment not based on medical efficacy but on cost models? AI used to make healthcare cheaper but not better outcomes? Do not want!

A very real issue is the dumbing-down of doctors who rely too much on AI. There were studies that doctors using AI to help during colonoscopy were less able to do their job after getting used to the AI tools. They became worse at their job by being reliant on AI.

Use of AI in some cases and for some conditions results in far better outcomes for patients. In some cases it augments what a skilled doctor can do. In some cases it results in detrimental outcomes for patients. And in some cases, it adds no medical value with a risk of increasing problems, in addition to increasing costs, like cases of transcription errors that aren't caught, or case summaries that are wrong in critical ways.

Comment Re:Microsoft has a serious culture problem (Score 5, Insightful) 68

All true, but it should be added this isn't a recent thing.

Oh, the AI buzz is recent, but MS has had quality control problems in flagship software for decades. How many control panels are there? How many "kinda" work? How many versions are we going on with that kind of nonsense? And instead of fixing this, they focus on AI and...notepad...for some fucking reason.

Comment Re: Interesting times (Score 2) 65

I'd be less concerned about the malware on windows knowing the typical home user. It's just yet another method, joining all the infected game hacks (or non-functional ones that are just malware claiming to be Roblox or Minecraft mods) , infected "useful" plug in with the same story, MS office documents that still represent about a third of all pfishing, or Microsoft letting .zip files run as executables if you just renamed the exe BINARY. The malware is something people already do, so it is not surprising. Just like all the "my Facebook got hacked, please don't click on anything from me" announcements these are background.

No, it's the people who will apply filters, crops, or other edits to their entire photo collection and have no backup. Or replace the content of every single document on the shared drive with a mistaken find-and-replace command. Or have a more subtle large change wiping out parts of documents that goes mostly unnoticed. The system logs what it did, but that's not the same as an undo buffer, nor archives for when it really fouls the files up over time.

Comment Re: Case in point (Score 1) 211

It also is not the novelty they are believing.

There was the Sci Fi version that's been around 70+ years. That's not new and sexy.

There are dystopia stories that are 50+ years old, not new and sexy.

There are the digital assistants that were popularized a decade ago. That's not new and sexy.

There are the chat bots that recommend pizza glue and eating rocks. Not new and sexy.

There are things it can do, but people have been experiencing it somewhat for generations. Star Trek holodecks from 40 years ago, Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" and other stories from the 1950s, or even just home automation that is already becoming e-waste as vacuums, doorbell, thermostats, and speakers are bricked by manufacturers. The allure of "smart things" has passed.

What people see being delivered is the dystopia version.

Comment Re:Trump Mania (Score 1) 297

Worth researching the history of vaccinations. The first polio vaccine, for instance, killed and maimed thousands of children, yet there was the government pressuring everyone to take it.

We eventually perfected it, yes, but all that means is we were experimenting on the public under the guise of "public health".

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