Subscribe now
AI is helping to draft doctor messages

Doctors are using AI to draft messages without telling patients

9 May 2023

US healthcare organisations are trialling OpenAI’s GPT-3 for drafting clinician messages to patients. But not all patients are being informed and some AI researchers warn of errors creeping in


water sign

Flint water crisis: How AI is finding thousands of hazardous pipes

22 August 2018

Artificial intelligence is helping to find the thousands of lead pipes responsible for the water crisis in Flint, Michigan


An AI can now tell how malnourished a child is just from a photo

An AI can now tell how malnourished a child is just from a photo

18 May 2018

A company in Kenya has devised a system that uses artificial intelligence to detect a child’s level of malnutrition from a photo, without bulky equipment or examinations


photo of Mark O'Connell

Evading death and mind-uploading: The ambition of transhumanism

8 May 2018

Transhumanists could not stop for Death but they kindly stopped for Mark O'Connell, who has captured their beliefs and anxieties in his Wellcome Book Prize winning travelogue


It’s up to us if powerful AI embodies our virtues or our vices

It’s up to us if powerful AI embodies our virtues or our vices

30 December 2017

Compassionate, caring, conflicted, bigoted, self-absorbed, narcissistic, downright evil: as pervasive and powerful AI arrives, it will reflect who we are


Woman in harness

Robot physical therapist helps people walk again after a stroke

19 July 2017

A robotic harness controlled by a neural network can adjust a person’s balance and muscle activity to help them walk normally after a spinal injury or stroke


Smartphone showing interactive chat about symptoms

An app a day keeps the doctor away

19 July 2017

Healthcare is poised for an upheaval, with the arrival of artificially intelligent health apps that could replace visits to the doctor


AI artwork

Artificial Intelligence ushers in the era of superhuman doctors

12 July 2017

Non-human intelligence will soon be a standard part of your medical care – if it isn’t already. Can you trust it?


Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop