Google is conducting the world’s first clinical AI video consultations

Google Research and DeepMind have released details of their first ever clinical trial of an AI powered video consultation system. The system, named AMIE (Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer), is a multi-agent system built with Gemini and Project Astra. AMIE performed randomised video consultations with actor patients in simulated clinical scenarios.

AMIE was capable of handling several inputs simultaneously, such as interpreting body language, processing speech, operating a virtual examination tool and diagnosing patients all at the same time. AMIE was rated by human experts as being on par with a human primary care physician in key aspects of patient care including gathering comprehensive medical histories, accurate diagnosis, prescription of effective treatments and patient communication. AMIE was also preferred by the actor patients over a chat based system.

This is the first time an AI system has transcended the textual nature of medicine to reach expert levels in video consultations. Although Google stresses that AMIE is still a research prototype and further studies are required before it can be deployed clinically, this is a massive breakthrough as it demonstrates that “AI does not see the patient” is no longer valid.