When I think of heroic doctors, I think of the physician in the hospital who’s presented with a patient suffering bizarre or vague symptoms and pulls out the right diagnosis just in time. It’s the basis of almost every medical procedural TV show, from House, MD to The Pitt . It’s the mystique that has made doctors among the most revered professionals in society. But what if a machine could make that call just as well or even better? What should we do about it here in the real world? That question is becoming more urgent. According to a major new study published in Science , advanced artificial intelligence programs often outperform human doctors when diagnosing people seeking emergency medical care. AI has already, for better or worse, become a part of modern medicine. Different programs are being used to do everything from collate physician notes to identify promising new candidates for drug development .…