iFLYTEK's 'AI Medical Assistant' Scores 456 on National Clinical Practitioner Written Exam, Ranking Above Average Nationwide

On November 6, the National Medical Examination Center officially released the passing score for the “2017 Comprehensive Written Examination for Licensed Clinical Physicians.”The test results for iFlytek’s “AI Medical Assistant” robot were also announced. In this examination, the iFlytek “AI Medical Assistant” robot scored 456 points, surpassing the passing threshold for the National Licensed Physician Qualification Examination (360 points), placing it at an upper-intermediate level among the 530,000 examinees nationwide.。

The iFlytek “Intelligent Medical Assistant” robot was developed through a collaboration between the Anhui Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission and iFlytek, with joint research and development conducted by iFlytek and Tsinghua University. Upon review and approval by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the National Medical Examination Center concurrently tested the answering capabilities of the iFlytek “Intelligent Medical Assistant” robot using the Comprehensive Written Examination Paper for Clinical Category Licensed Physicians at a specially designated testing venue during the “2017 Comprehensive Written Examination for Clinical Licensed Physicians” held on August 26–27, 2017.

The Beijing Guoxin Notary Public Office and proctors from the National Medical Examination Center jointly witnessed the robot testing process. The test was conducted at a designated examination site of the National Medical Examination Center, strictly adhering to the key principles for robots participating in the assessment:The examination venue was disconnected from the internet and had no signal. Under the supervision of invigilators and notaries, the operator completed the examination. The entire process was video-recorded to ensure no cheating occurred, guaranteeing that iFlytek’s “Smart Medical Assistant” robot participated in the test in a fully open and transparent manner.。

The National Medical Licensing Examination is a professional entry-level examination designed to assess whether applicants for physician licensure possess the essential professional knowledge and skills required to practice medicine.The Physician Qualification Examination consists of two parts: the Practical Skills Examination and the Comprehensive Medical Written Examination.The Physician Qualification Certificate is an essential "passport" for medical practice in China. The National Medical Licensing Examination is a mandatory assessment to evaluate whether applicants possess the necessary qualifications to engage in medical practice. The examination is structured into two levels and four categories: the two levels are Licensed Physician and Licensed Assistant Physician; each level is further divided into four categories—Clinical Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Stomatology, and Public Health. The Clinical Licensed Physician is one of these categories.

Although iFlytek’s “AI Medical Assistant” passed the written examination, it did not pass the practical skills test; therefore, it does not yet fully meet the requirements for professional practice qualification.

However, iFlytek’s “Intelligent Medical Assistant” robot successfully passed the comprehensive written examination this time, further validating the significant progress made by iFlytek in the research and development of cognitive intelligence technologies:

I. Machine Knowledge Learning Capability: By leveraging "multi-semantic deep learning" algorithms, the system acquires knowledge representations and relational representations of medical concepts from comprehensive resources, including all five-year undergraduate medical textbooks published by the People’s Medical Publishing House, clinical guidelines, and classic case studies, thereby endowing the machine with an extensive medical knowledge base;

II. Machine’s Knowledge Application Capability: By employing multi-scale fusion reasoning algorithms—including “key-point semantic reasoning,” “contextual semantic reasoning,” and “evidence-chain semantic reasoning”—machines are endowed with multi-level reasoning capabilities at both the paragraph and document levels.

iFlytek’s “Smart Medical Assistant” robot surpassed the passing score for the “2017 National Clinical Practitioner Qualification Examination (Comprehensive Written Test)” and demonstrated an upper-intermediate to advanced level of performance. This proves that the “Smart Medical Assistant” has established a relatively comprehensive medical knowledge system and, to a certain extent, possesses the capability for autonomous learning and applying medical knowledge to solve medical-related problems, thereby validating iFlytek’s leading position in core artificial intelligence technologies.

The technological achievements of iFlytek’s “Intelligent Medical Assistant” robot will be applied in areas such as medical education, standardized training, and clinical decision support systems. Moving forward, the iFlytek “Intelligent Medical Assistant” robot will focus on assisting physicians with clinical diagnosis and treatment, becoming a capable aide in their daily practice. It will also extend its services to hospitals, communities, and households, thereby truly serving healthcare delivery.

iFlytek’s “Smart Medical Assistant” robot has successfully passed the comprehensive written examination, marking a milestone in the development of artificial intelligence in China as well as in China’s healthcare and medical services. The company needs to gradually promote the application of the iFlytek “Smart Medical Assistant” robot.