The first clinic in the world to use artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose patients has opened in Saudi Arabia. This project is a partnership between Synyi AI, a medical technology company from China, and Almoosa Health Group. The trial started last month in Al-Ahsa, in the eastern part of the country, a report in the Leaders magazine stated.

The goal of this clinic is for AI doctors to be the first point of contact for checking and treating patients, instead of human doctors. However, human doctors are still an important part of the system, acting as “safety gatekeepers.”

Synyi AI, based in Shanghai, explained in a statement, “AI Clinic is a new medical service system where AI doctors handle all the steps of a medical visit, from asking questions to giving prescriptions. Human doctors work as ‘safety gatekeepers’ to check the diagnosis and treatment plans.”

How the AI Clinic Works

NDTV reports, when a patient arrives at the clinic, they use a tablet to tell an AI “doctor,” named “Dr. Hua,” about their symptoms. Like a human doctor, Dr. Hua asks more questions and looks at information and pictures, with help from human staff.

After the talk, Dr. Hua suggests a treatment plan. A human doctor then carefully reviews and approves this plan. Human doctors are also available for serious situations that the AI cannot handle.

Right now, the AI doctor can only help with breathing problems, covering about 30 sicknesses like asthma and sore throats. Synyi AI plans to teach Dr. Hua about more diseases, aiming for 50 conditions related to breathing, stomach and gut, and skin.

The information collected during this trial will be given to the Saudi authorities. Approval for the technology is expected within 18 months. Synyi AI stated that during testing before the trial, the technology had a very low error rate of 0.3 percent.

Zhang Shaodian, CEO of Synyi AI, said, “In the past, AI has helped doctors, but now we are taking the big step of letting AI diagnose and treat patients directly.”

Total views: 686