Prediction · What changes
AI will support diagnosis and triage in places with too few doctors, always under a clinician's oversight.
Why we think so
Medical models have reached exam-level scores and the WHO has set principles for AI in health. Places with few doctors stand to gain the most. We give this low confidence because real clinical evidence and regulation move slowly, as they should.
What would prove us wrong
Clinical trials showing AI support does not improve outcomes, or regulators not approving its use.
Review notes
21 October 2026: Studies show strong diagnostic dialogue, but the AI Index 2026 finds only 5% of over 500 clinical AI studies used real clinical data. Evidence from real care is still thin.
- Horizon
- Medium term. About 3 to 10 years out.
- Confidence
- Low confidence
- Status
- Open. Not yet decided either way.
- Made
- 21 October 2026
- Last reviewed
- 21 October 2026
- Research programs
- Safety and human controlMeasuring progress to AGI
- Sectors
- Health
The evidence it rests on
Public results from teams around the world. Read the sources and judge for yourself.
· Google Research (published in Nature)
Language models encode clinical knowledge
A medical language model reached passing-level scores on US medical licensing style questions, while the authors stressed it was not ready for clinical use.
What it means for AGI: passing exams is not the same as being safe in practice. Evaluation has to follow real use.
Source: nature.com(opens external site)
· World Health Organization
WHO guidance on ethics and governance of AI for health
The WHO set out principles for AI in health, including protecting human autonomy, transparency and accountability.
What it means for AGI: rules for AI in high-stakes fields are arriving alongside the technology, and any general system must work within them.
Source: who.int(opens external site)
· Google Research and Google DeepMind (published in Nature)
Conversational diagnostic AI compared with doctors
In a blinded study of text consultations with patient actors across 159 cases, specialists rated the AI system higher than primary care physicians on most measures. The authors say more research is needed before real-world use.
What it means for AGI: medical reasoning in conversation is strong in studies; real clinical evidence is the next test.
Source: nature.com(opens external site)
· Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI
AI Index 2026: capabilities jump, but unevenly
Agent success on Terminal-Bench rose from 20% to 77.3% in a year, and agents solved 93% of cybersecurity tasks, yet robots succeeded at only 12% of real household tasks. AI data-centre power capacity reached 29.6 GW, and four in five US students use AI for schoolwork.
What it means for AGI: digital abilities are racing ahead while physical abilities and governance lag.
Think we are wrong?
Send us the evidence. If it changes our view, we update the prediction and say why.