I'd never want to be cared for by an AI doctor - and here's why

Constant cough? Abdominal pains? Change in bowel habits? These are the types of problems any healthcare system should be able to help you with.

It should be simple: the doctor sees you, arranges scans and blood tests, you're given the results, then the diagnosis and treatment and hopefully you're cured.

Of course, it isn't that easy, not least because there just aren't enough doctors to see patients in a timely manner.

But also, crucially, we as doctors aren't actually as good as we think when it comes to making the correct diagnosis. The average misdiagnosis rate is 9.7 per cent, according to a major review of the evidence, published in the journal Diagnosis in 2020.

That's where artificial intelligence (AI) can step in.

There has been a lot about it in the Press recently, with dire warnings that, if uncontrolled, AI threatens the survival of the human race.

But when it comes to medicine and, specifically, using it for diagnosis, I'm all for it. There's a growing body of evidence showing that AI can help.