https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/where-ai-in-medicine-falls-short1/ > I met Peter and his family, as I so often do with patients, at what I can only assume was one of the worst points in their lives. As an infant, Peter (whose details I have changed enough to obscure his identity) had always been a bit delayed. He spoke in understandable words a bit later than expected, walked a bit later, and was always a bit of a clumsy child. His parents never really worried. After all, he was their fourth, and the subtle delays were likely just a result of getting less attention from them as they divided their time up among the children. And he was such a sweet little boy, the clumsiness always just seemed to add to his winsome character. > But by his fourth birthday it was hard to ignore that something was off, and by that point his pediatrician had grown concerned. In fact, things seemed to be getting worse. Diagnostic tests remained stubbornly inconclusive. The best that anyone could guess was that he had some unidentified form of a metabolic or neurodegenerative disorder.