Artificial intelligence in disease diagnostics: A critical review and classification on the current state of research guiding future direction

Stefan Stieglitz

The diagnosis of diseases is decisive for planning proper treatment and ensuring the well-being of patients. Human error hinders accurate diagnostics, as interpreting medical information is a complex and cognitively challenging task. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) can improve the level of diagnostic accuracy and efficiency. While the current literature has examined various approaches to diagnosing various diseases, an overview of fields in which AI has been applied, including their performance aiming to identify emergent digitalized healthcare services, has not yet been adequately realized in extant research. By conducting a critical review, we portray the AI landscape in diagnostics and provide a snapshot to guide future research. This paper extends academia by proposing a research agenda. Practitioners understand the extent to which AI improves diagnostics and how healthcare benefits from it. However, several issues need to be addressed before successful application of AI in disease diagnostics can be achieved.