AI will transform healthcare sector

encouraging the application of medical big data since 2015 as well as rolling out policies dealing with AI development in the healthcare industry.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Health and Family Planning Commission launched a blueprint to support medical innovation during the 13th FiveYear Plan (2016-20).

This involved guidelines on research in techniques in bioscience, precision medicine and medical AI.

Last year, Firestone Inventing revealed in its report that medical AI investment topped 2.58 billion yuan, which was a jump of 193 percent compared to the same period in 2015.

Major tech companies such as IBM, Google Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd are all moving into the field of artificial intelligence.

In 2016, Baidu Inc launched its “Medical Brain” system, using AI to help doctors across China.

“Only 4.8 percent of the urban population go to see a doctor when they feel sick,” said Fan Wei, director of Baidu’s big data lab.

“Up to 89 percent of the online population search the internet for medical knowledge,” Fan added. “Baidu Zhidao, the question and answer section on search engine Baidu, receives 10 million medical inquiries every day. So, the market for AI in the healthcare sector is huge.”