On Human and Artificial Intelligence

While on assignment for Primafila at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, RSNA 2016, journalist Linda Brookes learns that machine intelligence will surpass that of all humans combined around 2029.

By Linda Brookes

In the world of medical conferences, the annual meeting of the RSNA is in a class of its own. It doesn’t have a decent acronym (there’s no way you can make a pronounceable word out of ‘RSNA’), but it doesn’t need it. It’s the biggest medical meeting in North America, held annually at the McCormick Place in Chicago, the largest convention center in North America. You need to pack comfortable, serious walking shoes if you’re going to attend this meeting, because you’ll be walking down miles and miles of corridors, through tunnels, and up and down stairs guided only by strategically placed digital displays of session locations that sometimes freeze or crash (Windows error!).

The RSNA meeting fills every available bit of space in the convention center, even more than the other huge medical meeting held annually, in Chicago, that of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). While at RSNA I discover rooms I’ve never ventured to before, even though I’ve been coming to events in Chicago for some years. The attendance at RSNA is always huge, in 2016 around 54,000 in total compared with around 39,000 for ASCO the same year.

Pressing matters

The press facilities at the 2016 RSNA meeting are difficult to locate since there are no signs in the main entrance lobby and none of the conference staff has a clue where they are. I wander in the likely direction muttering “Press” to any security staff who challenge me. (Apparently I look the part and not like a danger to anyone, even though I don’t yet have a badge.)

Eventually I locate the press room. In contrast to attendance, press coverage of RSNA is much smaller than that of ASCO and even other, smaller conferences. At other medical meetings the press room would usually be filled with specialist and consumer press representatives, but this isn’t one that interests the lay press or the technologically naïve. The press “room” here – really a screened-off section of the exhibition area – is small and only half full. I’m convinced that these people understand all the technology and software completely and that I’m the only one who isn’t sure whether VNA (vendor neutral archive) is dead or alive! There are no people from the general media (the ones our current US president calls “the dishonest media”) and no people from general health magazines or blogs. This is serious stuff! There is only one writer signed in that I recognize personally – he attends about 40 medical conferences a year, so I ask him what his secret is for maintaining such a punishing schedule – “No life!” he replies immediately.

Medicine meets politics

I am invited to some company press presentations. They are mostly European companies and as a Brit, easily identified by my accent, I feel I should (and do) pin my “I Voted Remain” badge on to my jacket to reassure them that I personally didn’t support Brexit in the recent UK referendum. The good food offered at these events reminds me of the “old” days at when the press were regularly invited to mark the launch of potential blockbuster drugs. Things are pretty quiet in that respect nowadays and the press is lucky to get even a small sandwich when the results of a clinical trial are announced.

The RSNA exhibit area (split between two halls, spread over more than 400,000 square feet in total) feel like a combination of the Geneva International Motor Show (the beautiful new machines!) and a TechCrunch Disrupt event (companies with new platforms!). A salesman is pleased when I compare an upgraded scanner to a Mercedes; there are almost 100 companies exhibiting here for the first time. There are too many stands to examine in depth over in two days. Across the halls I overhear many concerned conversations about the recent US presidential election and the upcoming national elections in Europe (I keep my opinions to myself, of course!).

A return to basics

I select conference sessions I think I will best reveal the state of radiology today, but as I only have two days on site, I’m not able to attend as much as I would like. I want to hear RSNA President Richard L. Baron, MD, who calls for a “shift in the way radiologists practice,” and suggests that radiologists “once again become renaissance physicians who truly know clinical medicine.” (Am I the only one having difficulty in picturing this?) “This shift does not require revolutionary changes to our practices and culture,” he says. “I see it more as a return to basics.” (He’s starting to sound like Margaret Thatcher – does anyone else remember her “Back to basics” speech?)

2029 here we come!

Naturally way ahead of every other medical specialty in digital transformation – the “canary in the coalmine,” as one speaker put it – radiologists are now apparently looking forward to the “point of singularity,” when machine intelligence will surpass that of all humans combined, which apparently will happen around 2029. Yikes! This is beyond ‘Star Trek’ and it’s making me very nervous! For someone who thought she was fairly up to date with current trends in imaging but barely knows the difference between Python and R, this meeting is a serious reminder of how much reading I need to do before my primary care provider (general practitioner) is suddenly replaced by an artificially intelligent robot!

Back at the main entrance to the convention center, however, attendees are making reservations at the hospitality desk and there is a line of delegates queuing for taxis while others are boarding buses that will take them back to their hotels. Although everything inside points to a machine-led future, for now things are still (comfortingly?) old-fashioned outside…