What a cholera map can teach us about trusting AI
A physician spotted a consequential pattern on a street map. Working with similar principles today could make medical AI more useful and easier to question.
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AI can have a direct impact on healthcare, says the writer, but we should be able to test and investigate the patterns that the models reveal.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Zhigang Yao
In late August 1854, cholera swept through Soho in London. Within days, hundreds of people had died.
At the time, many believed that cholera was transmitted through foul-smelling air. The physician John Snow suspected contaminated water instead. While investigating the outbreak, he placed the deaths on a street map and marked the locations of public water pumps.