Ping An Tech CEO says A.I can improve healthcare in China

Artificial intelligence is still a relatively new technology, but a business leader said his apps were already generating real value.

For artificial intelligence to become more common, start-ups and technology giants need to understand the bottlenecks that businesses face and that this technology can solve, said Ericson Chan, CEO of Ping An Technology in China.

"Look in China, for example, only 8% of hospitals are AAA rated," he told CNBC's Arjun Kharpal on Tuesday at the RISE conference in Hong Kong. "But these 8 percent of hospitals support more than 50 percent of patients nationwide."

As a result, resources are distributed unevenly, which affects patients' experiences in these hospitals, he said.

"You have to wait more than three hours before you can see a doctor, and the consultations do not last more than 7 or 8 minutes," said Chan, adding that doctors, meanwhile, "must work more than 12 hours per week. day". day."

It is here that AI can help mitigate the frictions experienced by patients and healthcare providers.

Ping An Technology is a wholly owned subsidiary of a large Chinese conglomerate, Ping An Group. The company focuses on the application of various technologies, including artificial intelligence, in areas such as healthcare, finance and smart cities.

He has developed systems of AI that, he says, can predict the likelihood that a patient will have a specific chronic disease even before the onset of physical symptoms or identify diseases. infectious in advance with great accuracy. Its programs claim to be able to detect abnormalities in medical image badysis, which would normally take a lot more time for doctors.

"We can reduce the time to about five minutes, so it's much more efficient, much more accurate, too," Chan said. "After, we can even make sure that AI technologies provide follow-up with patients."