Introduction :
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science with a broad and diverse scope, focused on developing smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. Applications of AI include visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation. AI is an interdisciplinary field with growing importance across multiple sectors.
Modern healthcare systems generate vast amounts of data, making AI increasingly relevant in healthcare services. Various AI technologies are now being used by healthcare providers and payers. Major applications include patient engagement and adherence, diagnosis, treatment recommendations, drug discovery, and administrative management.
The term Artificial Intelligence was first introduced in 1956 by John McCarthy and colleagues during the Dartmouth Conference. Earlier foundational concepts included the Turing Test proposed by Alan Turing as a benchmark of machine intelligence, along with early AI programs such as the chess-playing system developed by Dietrich Prinz.
AI systems in healthcare generally begin with large volumes of data. Machine learning algorithms analyze this data to extract useful information and generate actionable insights for solving healthcare challenges. These systems assist in tasks such as matching patient symptoms with appropriate physicians, disease diagnosis and prognosis, drug discovery, language translation, and interpretation of medical images and records.