ATLANTA – Each day in the northern part of Georgia, thousands of prescriptions are written by doctors who are trying to figure out which medication is best for their patients.
Wegovy and Ozempic are among the weight-loss and diabetes drugs that many patients are requesting.
New AI Tool for Weight-Loss Drugs
An AI tool has been created by Dr. Caroline Collins from Emory and Professor Kaantirl Kuhnert from Emory Goizueta Business School to determine if these drugs, also known as GLP-1 agonists, would be suitable for a patient or not.
“This decision is made multiple times a day,” said Dr. Collins. “So it took very little time to identify what was important and then use artificial intelligence to replicate my judgment.”
She explained 20-25 variables that she takes into account with Kuhnert during a study to predict whether or not this class of medications will work for her patients.
“We put these variables into our artificial intelligent software,” added Kuhnert.
Drug-Dispensing AI Study
The two used Tacit Object Modeler™ (TOM), an AI program, to create a “decision-making digital twin” which helps doctors decide if these drugs will work for their patients.
“Scenarios are given,” said Kuhnert. “It learns from Dr. Collins about which variables matter.”
Dr. Collins says primary care physicians can use this software so they can anticipate whether or not their patient will benefit from taking the medication.
“The computer doesn’t make the decision,” she said. “The computer models my decision using those same inputs/variables.”
AI can offer a quick second opinion, according to Kuhnert.“We’re not replacing doctors but offering a second opinion from an expert.”
Dr. Collins is happy that her knowledge could be shared in order to assist with difficult decisions made by other healthcare professionals.
“These medicines are great when used properly,” she said. “But if misused, they can hurt people.”
Source: fox5atlanta
