The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a well-established medical system with a long history. Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly expanding in many fields including TCM. AI will significantly improve the reliability and accuracy of diagnostics, thus increasing the use of effective therapeutic methods for patients. This systematic review provides an updated overview on the major breakthroughs in the field of AI-assisted TCM four diagnostic methods, syndrome differentiation, and treatment. AI-assisted TCM diagnosis is mainly based on digital data collected by modern electronic instruments, which makes TCM diagnosis more quantitative, objective, and standardized. As a result, the diagnosis decisions made by different TCM doctors exhibit more consistency, accuracy, and reliability. Meanwhile, the therapeutic efficacy of TCM can be evaluated objectively. Therefore, AI is promoting TCM from experience to evidence-based medicine, a genuine scientific revolution. Furthermore, huge and non-uniform knowledge on formula-syndrome relationships and the combination rules of herbal TCM formulae could be better standardized with the help of AI analysis, which is necessary for the clinical efficacy evaluation and further optimization on the standardized TCM formulae. AI bridges the gap between TCM and modern science and technology. AI may bring clinical TCM diagnostics closer to western medicine. With the help of AI, more scientific evidence about TCM will be discovered. It can be expected that more unified guidelines for specific TCM syndromes will be issued with the development of AI-assisted TCM therapies in the future.