64,000 shades of grey: How dentists, running coaches and restaurants are using AI

Dentist Sen Le says he is not afraid of losing his job to AI: a technology he has helped to develop, and one which he says can detect problems in a patient’s mouth that most human dentists would miss.

“The human eye can only see about 40 shades of grey, but the AI can see about 64,000,” he says. “That means it’s able to see things that we can’t: subtle changes in anatomy and subtle changes in disease. Often, it will find something that I didn’t even notice was there.”

While there is debate about the extent to which AI could destroy human jobs or create new ones, the technology is already well documented to be changing the nature of roles in various industries including administration, law and media.

But it is also being used – and developed – by people in more hands-on professions ranging from dentistry to run coaching and restaurant management, some of whom say AI is improving the services they offer to customers but will never replace them.

Giving diagnostics teeth

Le started working on software called Eyes of AI six years ago to save dentists time and help them make more consistent and accurate diagnoses.

“Dentists and dental professionals are very time poor,” he says. “There’s also a lot of variability in our diagnostics: if you go to five different dentists, you get five different diagnoses, and then the treatments they recommend could range from $300 up to $36,000.”

The Sydney-based dentist, who also works in Canberra, has used the technology over the past three years with his patients and says it can identify issues ranging from defective fillings to infected abscesses and calcification – the build-up of excess calcium – in places not just isolated to the teeth.

The AI tool can work with as little information as a single X-ray to make basic findings, but can also consider other clinical information fed into it.

“It’ll detect issues such as tooth decay early so that we can address it very conservatively rather than drilling into the patient,” he says. “I also use AI as a second set of eyes – like a spell check – to make sure that I haven’t missed anything, especially if I’m busy or running late.”

Le and his team have been partnered with the CSIRO and the University of Sydney, and while tighter regulation has made the approval process less straightforward, he says the business is on the verge of getting the technology approved for release to other clinics around Australia.

AI can also enhance patients’ understanding, Le says, helping them to take more ownership over their treatments.

“Often, patients are just taking the dentist’s word for what’s there,” he says. “But the colour overlays generated by the AI, and the things it flags, can help patients look after their oral health better.”

While Le believes AI will increasingly play a supporting role in dentistry in years to come, he says it will not dampen demand for dentists.

“It’s a very human thing to go into someone’s mouth,” he says. “And at the end of the day, AI requires human oversight because it can’t be held responsible for decisions. I don’t believe it’s possible for AI to replace dentists.”

Running the numbers

Sydney-based trail and ultra-running coach Ash Daniels started experimenting with AI two years ago.

“It was like a new employee at first,” he says. “I had to check the output, but I gave it more and more tasks and built trust over time. Now, it’s like having an assistant.”

While apps are increasingly being used to generate training plans for athletes, Daniels says some of them can lead to people overtraining and getting injured.

“What they lack is a feedback loop,” he says. “They are purely objective. AI can feed back some data, but it lacks empathy, and if you’ve had a real tough week at work, or your kids haven’t slept, AI can’t adapt to that.”

Daniels says he is not worried about AI taking his job, and that he has so far seen no drop-off in the number of people he coaches.

“Huge amounts of people are coming into the sport and looking for guidance,” he says. “They want to speak to me, not a machine.”

AI is useful for doing repetitive administrative work, Daniels says, as well as analysing, identifying patterns, and concisely presenting findings from huge amounts of data.

“Before, I would have to trawl my way through data files from running watches and other digital devices,” he says. “Now, I can do that more quickly, and AI will pump it out into a digestible PDF format people can easily understand rather than a spreadsheet with a load of data. It also means I’m more available to chat through things with athletes.”

But Daniels says coaching is about more than just generating a plan, or analysing data, and that things such as lived experience and shared moments cannot be substituted by AI.

“My mantra is that a plan will get you to the start line, but I’ll be waiting for you at the finish line,” he says. “You’re never going to get that from a machine.”

Serving up

AJ Eserjose, co-owner of Charcoal & Crisp in the Sydney suburb of Crows Nest, says AI is helping businesses like his save time on tasks such as rostering and preparing marketing.

“Most of our time is consumed by repetitive admin work,” he says.

“Our interest is not in replacing people, but considering how to give staff better tools so they can spend less time on administrative work, and more time on the floor, coaching staff, and observing.”

Eserjose says the technology has not been perfect, especially early on, but that it has helped the business to make productivity improvements.

“The biggest benefit has been faster decision making,” he says. “It helps us organise information, assist customers more quickly, and notice patterns in things such as wastage management earlier instead of only reacting when something goes wrong.”

Eserjose says AI can also help to analyse sales and Google reviews, things the business can then look at to improve its food and service.

These types of benefits are especially useful, he says, in an environment and industry where labour, rent and operating costs are high but customers expect consistency, quality and good service.

However, Eserjose says AI does not reduce the need for his restaurant to have good staff.

“You can’t replace people, especially in our industry,” he says. “People run the restaurant. AI helps people run it better.”

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