Artificial Intelligence Can Make More Consistent Decisions Than Humans

With the pandemic period, the work on artificial intelligence gained momentum. According to the latest report published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, using artificial intelligence to treat patients’ behavioral problems is very effective for consistent decision making.

Artificial intelligence, which is considered the focal point of today’s technology world, continues to help people working in different sectors. Consulting artificial intelligence, especially on a subject, is one of the methods that researchers frequently use. What would happen if medical doctors took the insights of artificial intelligence to diagnose their patients? Two Canadian mental health researchers set out to examine this and published various data in the scientific journal Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Let’s take a closer look at this study by Marc Lanovaz from the University of Montréal and Kieva Hranchuk from St Lawrence College.

Associate Professor Lanovaz, Head of the Applied Behavioral Research Laboratory of the UDEM School of Psychoeducation, said in a statement, “Medical and education professionals do not agree on the effectiveness of behavioral interventions that can cause people to receive insufficient psychological support.” He stated that the uncertainty that patients may encounter during the treatment process should be resolved. To solve this problem, Marc Lanovaz and Kieva Hranchuk first created a simulated data set of 1024 people treated for behavior problems.

In the continuation of the study, 5 behavioral analysts with doctoral education were assigned to 1024 cases and these analysts were asked to share their decisions about how the treatment should be. Then, a machine learning-based computer model developed by Marc Lanovaz and Kieva Hranchuk analyzed 1024 cases one by one and revealed a large number of treatment results. In the final stage of the study, the results shared by behavioral analysts and artificial intelligence were compared and it was determined which side made the most consistent decision.

Machine Learning-Based Computer Can Think More Clearly Than Experts

“Five behavioral analysts were able to come to the same conclusion in only 75 percent of the cases they examined,” said Marc Lanovaz. However, artificial intelligence reached the cure result with a much less margin of error than the decisions made by all analysts. This shows that experts can use artificial intelligence to think predictably about their patients. For example, doctors can consult machine learning technology about whether to continue treatment for people with various disorders such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Because the decision-making process is considered one of the cornerstones of psychological and behavioral treatment.

Today, there are many projects and studies carried out with artificial intelligence: From two antibiotics recently developed by IBM using machine learning to the software giant Google’s use of these technologies to design chipsets, companies in every sector continue to advance in their own field. Do not forget to share your thoughts in the comments.