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Google is training machines to predict when a patient will die
A woman with late-stage breast cancer went to a hospital, fluids flooding her lungs. She saw two doctors and got a radiology scan. The hospital's computers read her vital signs and estimated a 9.3% chance she would die during her stay.
Then came Google's turn. An new type of algorithm created by the company read up on the woman — 175,639 data points — and rendered its assessment of her death risk: 19.9%. She died in a matter of days.
The harrowing account of the unidentified woman's death was published by Google in May in research highlighting the healthcare potential of neural networks, a form of artificial intelligence software that is particularly good at using data to automatically learn and improve. Google had created a tool that could forecast a host of patient outcomes, including how long people may stay in hospitals, their odds of readmission and chances they will soon die.
What impressed medical experts most was Google's ability to sift through data previously out of reach: notes buried in PDFs or scribbled on old charts. The neural net gobbled up all this unruly information then spat out predictions. And it did so far faster and more accurately than existing techniques. Google's system even showed which records led it to conclusions.
Scalable and accurate deep learning with electronic health records (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41746-018-0029-1) (DX)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @08:01AM
Life insurance businesses are really tricky. Actually, I am surprised anyone buys into it, given all the trickytalk.
Here's one on insurance hawked by a well known TV game show host. [ripoffreport.com]
Ya gotta read the comments to flesh out what really happened. Apparently one old woman about ready to die tries to cash in and make money off of an insurance policy, and did not read the fine print about limited benefits the first two years - basically they return your premiums. But read on, and other commenters warn of little businesstalks in there about it only covering accidental death.
Another says not. So I went to the main corporate insurance site to see for myself.... I flat could not see one way or the other whether it just covered death from accident, or from any cause. The site was full of pictures of smiling people, and hope words of assurance, but I could find so little info on what I was really buying. Just routed me to a form where I had to tender my real name, address, and other things I just as soon not put on their database.
I was left with the distinct impression all they wanted was my signature on paperwork agreeing a monthly deduction from my bank account, with no intention of ever paying anything back, which is the reason why all the businesstalk, and why they flash all that fine print on my TV that I can't read. Do that kind of crap with a business and they will haul me into court and call it "fraud". They can scam via fine print, low contrast print, motormouth-in-the-background, whatever as they see fit - cuz they are a business and I am not. I am a mark. aka. a customer.
I've had several insurance companies after me... but everytime they open their mouth or print any text, its so full of businesstalk that when I read it, I am left with the distinct impression that it requires a helluva lot of faith that the company will pay my beneficiaries anything. So many outs. Yes, I have taken their stuff over to where I work, and have a big inspection microscope over there. Its really discouraging to see what businesses put in fine print.
When you see a gray stripe in anything a business gives you, it oughta raise a huge red flag. In my case, it was their keys to the kingdom to get out of damn near anything they claimed in the large print on the sales sheet. Can I trust any business I catch trying to pull fast ones like this on me? Or should I consider them a thief, and keep them under watchful eye until they are out of sight, like a storekeeper watching a shoplifter?
I find lots of big numbers, but no citation of any obligation they have in the matter.... the only obligations to anyone seem to be those directed at me for timely premium payments and penalties levied onto me for failure of timely remitting.
They are quite the Jonny-on-the-spot when it comes to accepting premium cheques, knowing all along I won't be anywhere around when what I paid for will be tendered.
Don't leave my loved ones paying my debts? Ehhh... pay off my friggen debt. I can't believe for an instant someone else is gonna do it. None of those companies in in business to pay off my debts. They are in business to sweet-talk me out of anything they can get out of me! All I am apt to get is a hand-shake with someone dressed in a suit, and another envelope to remit payment to someone else every month.