Written by Mark Domanski, M.D.
Can AI accurately predict my plastic surgery results?
Predict: yes.
Accurately: unlikely.
Here is why…
Artificial intelligence is not a magic machine. AI is a prediction machine that has been trained on the internet. The internet will have a wide variety of plastic surgery before and after pictures. Do you think plastic surgeons put up their below average results on their websites? So, AI is only learning to make predictions from the most dramatic before and after results.
As of writing, I have not seen AI be able to do something that a human cannot do. AI can write a college essay, but so can a college student. It can create a picture, but so can an artist. AI can make a video, but so can a special effects studio. AI can do some of these things faster or cheaper than a person, but that is it.
Plastic surgeon’s perspective
As a plastic surgeon, I can model how one’s nose is likely to look after a rhinoplasty, or how one’s neck can tighten after a neck lift. But it is just a prediction. If such predictions were 100% accurate, plastic surgeons would be able to guarantee a specific result.
Personally, as a plastic surgeon, all I can guarantee is my due diligence, best effort, and honestly. AI can’t even do that!
During surgery, I can use my judgement to make decisions. Artificial intelligence can’t make judgments – AI is a predictive machine so it can only guess.
I can sit with a patient after a surgery and review a patient’s results. I can take responsibility for the results. Artificial intelligence can’t!
AI and oracle
AI is like an oracle in ancient Greece. We go to the oracle (AI), and it tells us to do something. We follow the oracle’s commands, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. And I think this is some of the power of AI. Because just like in ancient Greece, we keep coming back to the oracle (AI).
Sincerely,
Mark Domanski, MD
