Is This the Real Future of Anesthesiology?

In their article “The Future of Anesthesiology: Artificial Intelligence Is Just Another ‘What’ That Will Serve Our ‘Why’,” John C. Alexander, M.D., M.B.A., and Girish P. Joshi, M.B.B.S., M.D., FFARCSI, report on a study that showed “a machine-learning algorithm was able to predict hypotension 15 minutes prior to clinical presentation.”¹  Not surprisingly to those of us with critical care experience, the algorithm looked at arterial pressure waveforms to make its determination. One might dare say that it would be possible for me to make the same prediction, but in my case the patient would be treated to prevent the occurrence of hypotension. This would happen in a one-on-one situation, where I had the opportunity to care for the patient over a course of time, while staying vigilant about what was also taking place in the surgical field. Still, one would be naive to assume that such artificial intelligence (AI)...