Imagine an AI system in a hospital that can predict a patient’s risk of a heart attack. A doctor inputs a patient’s information – things like their age, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, whether they smoke, and family history. A conventional AI might spit out a single verdict: “High risk: around a nine-in-ten chance of a heart attack in the next decade.” Impressive, but also alarming. The doctor is left scratching their head, wondering why the risk is so high and what to do about it. Is it mainly the patient’s cholesterol? Their blood pressure? The fact that they’ve been a lifelong smoker? If the risk is so extreme, how could we reduce it?
Imagine an AI system in a hospital that can predict a patient’s risk of a heart attack. A doctor inputs a patient’s information – things like their age, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, whether they smoke, and family history. A conventional AI might spit out a single verdict: “High risk: around a nine-in-ten chance of a heart attack in the next decade.” Impressive, but also alarming. The doctor is left scratching their head, wondering why the risk is so high and what to do about it. Is it mainly the patient’s cholesterol? Their blood pressure? The fact that they’ve been a lifelong smoker? If the risk is so extreme, how could we reduce it?