The advance of artificial intelligence into health care

Artificial intelligence is taking hold in medicine. 

Every sector of the health care system is testing the technology to improve patient outcomes, speed up research, and cut costs. Biopharma companies are turning to artificial intelligence to speed screening and find new uses for old drugs, while electronic health records giants and startups alike are building out new models to guide care. 

And as the role of artificial intelligence grows, so, too, do the questions surrounding that shift. How can investors and health system buyers separate the truly innovative technologies from the ones that won’t prove useful? What will it take for the health care system and drug companies to seamlessly integrate this technology into long-standing workflows? And how will developers, health systems, and regulators ensure that everyone benefits from new models — and that they don’t exacerbate existing problems in medicine? 

In these stories, STAT examines how the biopharma and health care industries are navigating those questions.