Towards Expert-level Medical AI for Real-time Video Consultations
2026-08-10 • Artificial Intelligence
Artificial IntelligenceComputation and LanguageComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition
AI summaryⓘ
The authors show that their AI system, called AMIE (Video), can perform real-time video medical consultations almost as well as or better than human doctors in tasks like asking questions, diagnosing, managing care, and observing physical symptoms. Unlike text-only AI, AMIE (Video) uses both sound and visuals to understand patients better. Patient actors liked how AMIE explained conditions, while doctors were better at building personal connections. The system still struggles with small physical details and subtle emotional expressions. This study is a key step toward using AI to help doctors with complex video-based medical exams.
Audio-visual interactionTelehealthClinical video consultationObjective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)Artificial Intelligence (AI)Gemini-based multi-agent systemClinical reasoningLow-latency dialoguePhysical examinationAffective nuances
Authors
Mahvish Nagda, Jihyeon Lee, Matthew Thompson, Chunjong Park, Tim Strother, Valentin Liévin, Roma Ruparel, Akshay Goel, Teya Bergamaschi, Suhana Bedi, Meet Shah, Pavel Dubov, Liviu Panait, Toshiyuki Fukuzawa, Sam Schmidgall, Craig Schiff, Joseph Xu, Aliya Rysbek, Yana Lunts, Jan Freyberg, Rebecca Hemengway, Sunny Virmani, David Racz, Carey Radebaugh, Joëlle Barral, Kavi Goel, Dale R. Webster, Katherine Chou, Avinatan Hassidim, Yossi Matias, James Manyika, Gregory Wayne, Tao Tu, Yun Liu, Ethan Goh, Christina Chen, Ryutaro Tanno, Po-Hsuan Cameron Chen, Mike Schaekermann, Anil Palepu
Abstract
Audio-visual interaction is the standard for patient-physician consultations, enabling natural communication and effective assessment of illness through non-verbal cues. While text-based AI has shown promise, it discards essential perceptual dimensions and limits patients who cannot articulate symptoms in writing. Early efforts to extend medical AI to audio-visual interaction have demonstrated feasibility but not reached clinician-level performance. Here, we provide the first demonstration of expert-level AI in real-time clinical video consultations using AMIE (Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer) in a video configuration. AMIE (Video) is a Gemini-based multi-agent system integrating low-latency dialogue, clinical reasoning, and real-time audio-visual perception. To guide development, we established a taxonomy and automated evaluations for clinical audio-visual cues in telehealth settings. In a randomized Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) study with 30 primary care physicians (PCPs), 15 patient actors and 100 clinical scenarios, we compared AMIE (Video), its text-only counterpart AMIE (Text), and PCPs consulting via video. Clinical evaluators rated AMIE (Video) on par or better than PCPs in history-taking, diagnosis, management, and physical observation and examination. Patient actors preferred AMIE's approach to assessing and explaining conditions, while PCPs were preferred for rapport and partnership building. In modality ablation, patient actors preferred AMIE (Video)'s interface over text chat for communicative effectiveness, convenience, and feeling understood. Limitations remain in fine anatomical precision, subtle affective nuances, and high-frequency movements. While further research is needed before real-world translation, these results mark an important milestone toward AI systems capable of augmenting care across the sensory complexity of clinical practice.