Experts predicted that artificial intelligence would steal radiology jobs. But at the Mayo Clinic, the technology has been more friend than foe.
Excerpt – radiologists [..] are still in high demand. A recent study from the American College of Radiology projected a steadily growing work force through 2055.
[..] in recent years, they [radiologists] have begun using A.I. [artificial intelligence] to sharpen images, automate routine tasks, identify medical abnormalities and predict disease. A.I. can also serve as “a second set of eyes.”
“But would it replace radiologists? We didn’t think so,” said Dr. Matthew Callstrom, the Mayo Clinic’s chair of radiology, recalling the 2016 prediction. “We knew how hard it is and all that is involved.” [..]
So far, A.I. is proving to be a powerful medical tool to increase efficiency and magnify human abilities, rather than take anyone’s job. [..]
Of the more than 1,000 A.I. applications approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in medicine, about three-fourths are in radiology. A.I. typically excels at identifying and measuring a specific abnormality, like a lung lesion or a breast lump. [..]
Radiologists do far more than study images. They advise other doctors and surgeons, talk to patients, write reports and analyze medical records. After identifying a suspect cluster of tissue in an organ, they interpret what it might mean for an individual patient with a particular medical history, tapping years of experience.
Predictions that A.I. will steal jobs often “underestimate the complexity of the work that people actually do — just as radiologists do a lot more than reading scans,” said David Autor, a labor economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [..]
At the Mayo Clinic, A.I. tools have been researched, developed and tailored to fit the work routines of busy doctors. The staff has grown 55 percent since Dr. Hinton’s forecast of doom, to more than 400 radiologists. [..]
Dr. [president of the Mayo Clinic Platform who oversees the health system’s digital initiatives John] Halamka, an A.I. optimist, believes the technology will transform medicine.
“Five years from now, it will be malpractice not to use A.I.,” he said. “But it will be humans and A.I. working together.”
Full article, S Lohr, New York Times, 2025.5.14