This appeared last week suggesting we are slipping behind.
AI in health care: Australia in danger of lagging behind
Authored by Nicole MacKee
AUSTRALIA risks being “left behind” as an innovator in artificial intelligence (AI) in health care, says a leading expert who is calling for greater investment and regulatory rigour in the field.
Professor Enrico Coiera, Director of the Centre for Health Informatics at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University, said investment in AI in Australia was lagging.
“We are not seeing commensurate investment here in Australia, and many in the field feel we are rapidly being left behind, to become adopters rather than innovators in AI,” Professor Coiera said.
“If that happens, it would be a pity given the excellence of our Australian clinicians, scientists and engineers, the huge commercial opportunities this new industry offers us, and the clear need, post-COVID-19, for Australia to have greater independent capability to build and deploy advanced technologies, given the worsening global uncertainties.”
Professor Coiera’s comments came following publication of an article in the MJA which queried Australia’s readiness for the arrival of AI.
Professor Joseph Sung of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and co-authors, wrote that before AI tools could be put into daily use in medicine, “data quality and ownership, transparency in governance, trust-building in black box medicine, and legal responsibility for mishaps” needed to be resolved.
And, in a second article in the same issue of the MJA, Dr Miki Wada of Monash University and co-authors outlined the role of AI in skin cancer diagnosis and management.
Professor Coiera said as AI was increasingly used in health care, it uncovered pre-existing gaps in approaches to clinical data, “one of health care’s most precious resources”.
“We have known for many years that the data captured in clinical electronic records is of variable quality, and not at the same standard as, for example, data captured during a clinical trial,” he said noting that barriers to capturing high quality data included clinical time pressure and a lack of formal education in the use of electronic systems.
“The recent emphasis on ‘big data’ is in part a response to this problem; the larger the datasets, the more likely we will find signal in the noise.”
Professor Coiera, who also recently co-authored a paper on the potential role for AI in the fight against COVID-19 (published as a preprint in the MJA), said greater understanding of the need to “test and tune” data was also needed to ensure transportability of AI technologies.
Lots more here:
https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2020/35/ai-in-health-care-australia-in-danger-of-lagging-behind/
We also saw NSW getting into the development strategy / regulation of AI
NSW govt unveils first AI strategy
By Matt Johnston on Sep 4, 2020 5:17PM
Will establish new AI oversight body.
The NSW government on Friday released its inaugural artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, outlining how it plans to use the technology to create jobs and improve service delivery.
The strategy prioritises the development of AI skills in government and strengthening of industry relationships through a more consistent approach to the procurement of AI products and services.
The strategy was initially expected to be delivered at the beginning of the year, before the state government delayed the launch to give itself more time to grapple with “complex issues” in consultation with industry and academia.
A new body called the NSW Government AI Review Committee will be established to oversee the implementation of the strategy and use of AI across the government.
It will be chaired by the NSW chief data scientist Ian Opperman, whose work will span all government agencies.
Customer Service minister Victor Dominello said the strategy sets out guidelines for how AI can be used in a trusted, tested and transparent manner.
“Whether it’s at home, online, on the road or at the supermarket, the use of AI is becoming more prevalent in day-to-day life and is often deployed in subtle ways to make customer interactions and services more seamless,” Dominello said.
“This strategy brings together the three key pillars of privacy, transparency and security, within the prism of ethics.”
AI will be used to help automate inefficient and manual processes, the state’s policy site said, delivering better value to customers and freeing government staff up to spend more time on “critical or frontline work”.
It will also be used to assist in decision-making processes concerning resource allocation.
However, the government indicated decisions that impact citizens or their human rights will not be unilaterally made by AI, with “quick and efficient” reviews available for those impacted by AI-informed decisions.
“Citizens should be able to understand how their data is being used and for what purpose,” it said.
More here:
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nsw-govt-unveils-first-ai-strategy-552873
A more general view of the potential is here:
Pandemic could triple the value of AI
Krishan Sharma Technology journalist
Sep 8, 2020 – 12.01am
As the global economy implodes because of the COVID-19 shutdown, digital technologies are booming as businesses pushed into digital transformation and virtual workspaces turn to artificial intelligence to engage with customers, collaborate with employees and shore up supply chains.
Whether it’s using chatbots to support front-end customer service, computer vision to help maintain social distancing, machine learning for modelling the effects of reopening economies or employing advanced automation for addressing frailties in the supply chain across industries, the pandemic has created the perfect storm for the AI industry to thrive.
A government-sponsored road map from CSIRO published at the end of 2019 found that the AI sector would be worth $315 billion to the Australian economy by 2028 and $22 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
However, experts such as KPMG's Partner-in-charge, James Mabbott, tells the Financial Review that both these figures could be as much as “1.5 to 3 times greater” after taking into account the increased levels of investment driven by the disruption caused by the pandemic.
Mabbott says that for Australia to realise this economic benefit, we need to re-evaluate our approach to AI and IoT by leveraging our strengths in areas like natural resources and agriculture to identify opportunities in new industries.
Mabbott highlights mining operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which are amongst the world’s most automated, where hundreds of autonomous trucks and drills owned by the likes of BHP and Rio Tinto, could be used for remote mining operations on the moon and play a role in the space economy.
“There are also many health problems to be solved in terms of space travel, where leisure and sufficient access to food and water has always been a problem for explorers. Both AI and IoT will be at the heart of solving these problems, which will not only help develop the space industry but also benefit our activities here on Earth.”
Mabbott says that while Australia can’t compete with offshore markets on price, there will be niche application spaces for Australian AI technology such as fintech where we have recently seen the likes of AfterPay and ZIP successfully export technology into other markets.
“Areas such as payments and regtech represent opportunity due to the increased growth of online shopping and service delivery," he said. "The sheer weight of volume of transactions and customers will lend itself to smart intelligent automated solutions.”
With the new normal of working from home, the need to collaborate and engage across many work locations will also facilitate the development of new tools and applications that will leverage a mix of AI, IoT and emerging technologies such as VR and AR.
Mabbott says that this represents a “significant opportunity” for big name local players such as Atlassian but also allows for new companies and business models to emerge.
However, he warns that what we thought we needed to budget for talent attraction, development and retention prior to COVID-19, “won’t be enough”.
Forecasts prior to COVID-19 said that the Australian industry needs up to 161,000 new specialist AI workers by 2030 but experts say that, just like the monetary forecast, the number has gone up significantly amid the pandemic.
Although Australia’s investment in AI pales in comparison to global standards, there have been some meaningful moves recently in the research space.
Lots more here:
https://www.afr.com/technology/pandemic-could-triple-the-value-of-ai-20200903-p55ryg
All good stuff that shows people are feeling their way with the safety, efficacy and reliability of these technologies as well as the need to ensure the decision making provided is understandable and free of bias.
There is no doubt there is huge economic potential but such technologies need to be open and transparent of they risk loosing the ‘social license’ and trust they require to be successful.
Implementation of this technology is a good example of how ‘slow and steady’ will win the race.
David.
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