Robots will soon be able to diagnose patients "more accurately and faster" than almost any doctor, says the man behind a scheme by Britain's National Health Service that will see chatbots employed to assess medical helpline calls.
Babylon Health, a private company, is to launch a national scheme that allows UK patients to receive a full diagnosis by smartphone - without ever having to see a GP.
It has just begun a pilot scheme in which patients in London are encouraged to consult a chatbot instead of a human, when they contact the 111 non-emergency line.
Patients key in their symptoms, with artificial intelligence used to assess the urgency of each case, and determine whether users should be told to go to hospital , a pharmacy or tuck up at home.
Now the company's chief executive has revealed it is to launch a more sophisticated model that will allow any individual to receive a diagnosis by smartphone.
Ali Parsa, the company's founder, said the system would allow doctors to work in tandem with artificial intelligence - so that medics could focus on treating rather than diagnosing diseases.
The entrepreneur said: "There are 300 million pieces of knowledge that we have collected. No human brain can do that."
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