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Dr Google Gets A Medical Degree To End Misdiagnoses Google announces an AI-assisted web app to assess dermatological conditions. When you google for information about a skin lesion, you may soon get a reliable diagnosis instead of random misleading search results. How does the app work? No. 1 and most fallible doctor in the world The world’s largest search engine, Google, receives approximately 1 billion health-related queries. Not monthly, not weekly, but daily. On Google, patients enter their symptoms before making an appointment. Not everyone is aware that the results have nothing to do with medical knowledge but depend on algorithms—and they favor the most popular content. The result: many people consider Google their primary care physician because the internet knows everything. However, for some people, especially those struggling with financial difficulties or without health insurance, this is the only way to diagnose their disease. According to WHO, half of the world’s population does not have access to essential health services.
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OSOZ Polska 6/2021
When access to a doctor is limited, and each unnecessary visit is associated with high costs, it is easier to ask Google. Others do it for the sake of convenience—because Google is at hand. However, the truth is that Google can mislead patients, lead to delayed treatment and diagnosis, and sometimes endanger their health and life. Doctors have been dealing with the problem for years—patients bring printouts of results displayed by search engines, expecting, for example, to prescribe a specific drug or argue about the disease.
Encyclopedia with the problem of information evaluation Google search engine is today the largest repository of knowledge in the world— every day, it receives 5.4 billion queries. People ask for a cake recipe, weath-
er forecast, restaurant website, TV program. But also about what fever and rashes mean and how to treat a long-lasting cough. Google will find this information in a second. The value of access to information offered by Google is beyond dispute. The challenge is that AI algorithms cannot separate scientifically verified information from individual opinions and judgments unrelated to medicine. At the same time—and it needs to be made clear—Google plays a vital role in preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases even if it is inconvenient for the health sector. But all signs point to significant change ahead. In May 2021, the California-based technology giant announced the progress on the first app that will allow you to assess the health of skin, nails,
