Artificial Intelligence to Reshape the Healthcare Ecosystem

This paper intends to provide the reader with an overview of the main processes that are introducing artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare services. The first part is organized according to an evolutionary perspective. We first describe the role that digital technologies have had in shaping the current healthcare methodologies and the relevant foundations for new evolutionary scenarios. Subsequently, the various evolutionary paths are illustrated with reference to AI techniques and their research activities, specifying their degree of readiness for actual clinical use. The organization of this paper is based on the interplay three pillars, namely, algorithms, enabling technologies and regulations, and healthcare methodologies. Through this organization we introduce the reader to the main evolutionary aspects of the healthcare ecosystem, to associate clinical needs with appropriate methodologies. We also explore the different aspects related to the Internet of the future that are not typically presented in papers that focus on AI, but that are equally crucial to determine the success of current research and development activities in healthcare.