From Arthur Barnett, London, UK
As an aside to your look at a book on hype over AI abilities, we had an unfortunate encounter with an AI that was recently introduced to health software that triages for our local doctor’s office. I was referred by a pharmacist to my doctor because my eyes had developed a severe allergic reaction to our daughter’s dog(24 May, p 27).
The AI ignored the referral by another health professional and other evidence like well-controlled, life-long eczema and the specific issue of the eyes. It simply took over the process, saying: “Hello Arthur, we see you have a rash…” I then ended up down a rabbit hole of irrelevant questions from which I couldn’t escape. I tried the next day with a different approach, with the same result. Resorting to the phone, I got an appointment. Lots of wasted time for the practice.
