Artificial Intelligence applied to care (I): Origin and general concepts

Since the emergence of ChatGPT in November 2022, Artificial Intelligence has gained significant popularity, extending to multiple areas of daily and professional life. However, Artificial Intelligence encompasses much more than Generative Intelligence, including techniques that allow data analysis and support decision-making, especially in contexts such as healthcare. This boom necessitates efforts to ensure transparency and explainability of the predictive models and techniques used, to build trust among the healthcare professionals who must apply them. This article provides a summary of the main predictive Artificial Intelligence techniques applicable to the nursing care process. Data-centric methods are described (Machine Learning, Deep Neural Networks and Generative Artificial Intelligence), as well as process-centric techniques (Predictive Process Monitoring). Each technique is illustrated with practical examples from the healthcare field, with the aim of facilitating their understanding by healthcare professionals. Finally, the main limitations of these techniques and their prospects are presented.