Google’s open MedGemma AI models could transform healthcare

[aociswundumho]

Google's open MedGemma AI models could transform healthcare

Instead of keeping their new MedGemma AI models locked behind expensive APIs, Google will hand these powerful tools to healthcare developers.

www.artificialintelligence-news.com

The flagship MedGemma 27B model doesn’t just read medical text like previous versions did; it can actually “look” at medical images and understand what it’s seeing. Whether it’s chest X-rays, pathology slides, or patient records potentially spanning months or years, it can process all of this information together, much like a doctor would.

The performance figures are quite impressive. When tested on MedQA, a standard medical knowledge benchmark, the 27B text model scored 87.7%. That puts it within spitting distance of much larger, more expensive models whilst costing about a tenth as much to run. For cash-strapped healthcare systems, that’s potentially transformative.

And it's open source.

This is another step closer to what I call the Walmartization of healthcare. That is what the US desperately needs. Getting rid of human providers should be the ultimate goal. I find it amusing how this article assures the reader that this isn't the intention, but labor is a cost, not a benefit. Getting rid of doctors and nurses, or just reducing their numbers, is the absolute best thing that could happen to healthcare.

 

[dmpi]

America likes to overpay for medical services because they demand zero-errors and someone to sue for medical mistakes. Also germane to this is the concept of getting what you pay for. If it's free, it ain't any good.

 

[KingLeo]

AI has a long way to go before it will be trusted to diagnose and determine treatments for medical ailments

 

[Questerr]

AI has a long way to go before it will be trusted to diagnose and determine treatments for medical ailments

Bear in mind @aociswundumho thinks it is acceptable to have a society where if you are too poor to afford a doctor, it’s okay to have your mechanic brother in law perform surgery on your kids.

 

[aociswundumho]

Bear in mind @aociswundumho thinks it is acceptable to have a society where if you are too poor to afford a doctor, it’s okay to have your mechanic brother in law perform surgery on your kids.

Yes, but now your mechanic brother in-law can use AI on his phone to help him perform the operation out back in the wood shed.

 

[Questerr]

Yes, but now your mechanic brother in-law can use AI on his phone to help him perform the operation out back in the wood shed.

That’s great. AI can’t even get human hands right most of the time. I’m sure it’ll help an untrained improvised doctor transplant an organ no problem.

 

[aociswundumho]

That’s great. AI can’t even get human hands right most of the time. I’m sure it’ll help an untrained improvised doctor transplant an organ no problem.

All Billy Bob really needs is a sawzall, some pliers, and an AI model whispering "you got this" in his ear.

 

[Questerr]

All Billy Bob really needs is a sawzall, some pliers, and an AI model whispering "you got this" in his ear.

And if the kid dies, no worries. Human life in AnCapistan has no objective value so therefore it is worthless.