Te Papa Hauora Chair Peter Townsend: Embracing AI in Health

It is exciting to see how the Canterbury Health system is increasingly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve health outcomes.

We are just at the beginning of realising significant opportunities for innovation, in particular improving accuracy of diagnosis and treatment of a wide range
of health conditions.

Whether it is the enabling and application of complex and voluminous existing data sets or revealing more detail through the refinement of existing analytical tools, the revolution is under way. AI is becoming a fundamental and vital tool in increasing the accuracy of both diagnosis and treatment.

However, there is still a lot of uncertainty associated with the adoption of AI. Much of this distrust is based on a lack of knowledge and understanding around the consequences of using AI, including the belief that somehow AI will end up displacing or controlling us.

So, with the inevitable quantum shift that is occurring in the applications of AI in health, there is a real need to educate those inside the health system and the wider community about the value of AI improving our lives,
not threatening them.

One way of doing this is presenting real life examples of AI applications in health within Canterbury to a wide-as-possible audience so the positive impacts for all are clearly demonstrated alongside the dispelling of any negative urban legends. Te Papa Hauora, The Health Precinct, is actively engaged in doing just that.