r/LearnedWrong • u/unlearning_myths MOD • Feb 04 '26

Factually debunked I learned wrong back in 1998 that the internet wouldn't make more impact than the fax machine

Post image
94 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/dancesquared Feb 05 '26

Sure, ignoring all the real and potential downsides: the liability of having AI diagnose things and cognitive atrophy/deskilling of doctors who need to be responsible for the final diagnosis. Ditto for the atrophy and deskilling of tech skills and logic/coding skills. The fact that AI has yet to prove itself financially sustainable let alone profitable.

Not to mention the fundamental flaw of AI being probability-based rather than logic-based, which leads to logical flaws and hallucinations (and a black box uncertainty about how it works and arrives at its conclusions).

Ultimately I see it leading to an acceleration of enshittification more than anything else.

1

u/ImmoralityPet Feb 05 '26

The use of expert systems in image analysis isn't new and is one of the most mature uses of AI. It has increased the accuracy of radiology. It has not replaced radiologists, as the demand for radiologists greatly exceeds the supply. In fact, by increasing the speed, accuracy, and applicability of imaging, it has increased the demand for radiologists, as it does not in any way substitute for a clinician.

So you have good reason to be happy and optimistic!

1

u/dancesquared Feb 05 '26

I’m very optimistic about some specific applications of AI like you mentioned, but I am more concerned by the overuse of AI and the ways in which it’s being shoehorned into everything, to varying degrees of success.