Table 2.
Topics of public concern regarding artificial intelligence in medical care (N=2315).
| Topics | Posts, n (%) | Definition | Example post | |||||
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Technology and application
|
987 (42.63) | What is AIa and in which medical fields can it be applied? | N/Ab | |||||
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Technical issues | 109 (4.71) | Technical discussions on AI in medical care | “Massive medical data is indispensable for AI medical treatment” | ||||
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General uses | 210 (9.07) | General public discussions on AI in medical care without pointing out specific medical areas | “I am looking forward to AI being applied in medicine, autonomous vehicles, and other fields so that ultimately we will all be beneficiaries of AI” | ||||
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Specific uses | 668 (28.85) | Medical AI applied to specific medical fields | “Vigorous development of the application of AI in treatment and rehabilitation.” | ||||
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Prevention | 52 (2.25) | Application of AI in medical prevention | “How amazing AI is to be able to predict Alzheimer’s nine years in advance.” | |||
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Diagnosis | 436 (18.83) | Application of AI in medical diagnosis | “Google’s deep learning AI can diagnose cancer with an accuracy rate of 89%, while the accuracy rate of human diagnosis is currently 73%.” | |||
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Treatment | 146 (6.31) | Application of AI in medical treatment | “Intelligent doctors can list multiple treatment plans in 10 seconds” | |||
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Recovery | 34 (1.47) | Application of AI in medical recovery | “Intelligent family service robots have achieved mass production and application; robots helping in the recovery and assistance of the elderly and disabled are at the prototype production stage.” | |||
| Industry development | 706 (30.50) | Public attention toward and views on the medical AI industry | N/A | |||||
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Development of related companies | 331 (14.30) | Public discussions about companies that make advancements in medical AI | “Alibaba signed contracts with the First Affiliated Hospital and began to march toward AI medical treatment.” | ||||
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Investment and market | 186 (8.03) | Public discussions on the financial issues associated with medical AI | “Pony Ma, Tencent's boss, will invest in artificial intelligence medicine” | ||||
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Industry expectations | 142 (6.13) | Public prospects for the developmental trend of AI in medical care | “I think the AI medical industry has a bright future” | ||||
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Policy and law | 47 (2.03) | Public discussions on privacy and legal issues in AI industry development | “The development of AI can greatly shorten the training cycle of doctors, but the relevant legal and technical norms still need improvement.” | ||||
| Impact on society | 622 (26.87) | Influence of AI in medical care on society | N/A | |||||
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Impact on doctors | 422 (18.23) | Public perception of medical AI’s impact on human doctors | “After the development of artificial intelligence, doctors are one of the first unemployed professions. Don't let children study medicine” | ||||
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Impact on hospitals | 125 (5.40) | Public perception of medical AI’s impact on hospitals | “Will AI and telemedicine help hospitals control medical costs?” | ||||
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Influence on public life | 75 (3.24) | Public perception of medical AI’s impact on public life | “When AI enters the medical field, can human beings live forever?” | ||||
aAI: artificial intelligence.
bN/A: not applicable.