Artificial Intelligence and Precision Medicine: Behind the Tools, It's Still About People

Artificial intelligence and big data are transforming medicine. In the past, doctors relied mainly on pathology, imaging, blood markers, and limited molecular tests to determine treatment direction. Today, we can analyze vast amounts of gene expression data, observe how multiple pathways interact within a tumor, and further attempt to provide more personalized references for patients.

Throughout my research journey — from the foundational biochemistry of NPM1/B23, to gene co-expression network analysis, to quantitative pathway modeling — I have deeply felt the evolution of scientific methods. In the past, we used microscopes to look at cells and experiments to look at proteins; today we can also use computational methods to see many network relationships invisible to the naked eye. These tools are not magic — they help us ask better questions.

The spirit of precision medicine is not merely finding a mutation and matching it to a drug. Its deeper meaning is respecting the uniqueness of each patient. Even with the same type of cancer, different patients' tumor behavior, pathway imbalances, treatment responses, and physical resilience may all differ. If we can understand these differences more precisely, we have a better chance of offering more suitable treatment and care recommendations.

However, I must also remind myself: no matter how advanced artificial intelligence becomes, it cannot replace a doctor's judgment about a patient, cannot replace the struggle a patient and family face together in confronting illness, and cannot replace prayer, companionship, and love. Technology can process data, but it cannot fully carry human fear and hope.

So I look forward to the development of AI in medicine not as something that makes healthcare colder, but as something that empowers medical staff to better perceive patients' needs. True precision is not only precision down to the molecule — it should also be precision that reaches the human heart.