Scott explains why Midjourney's new ultrasound tomography scanner, despite being technologically interesting, faces major medical limitations and is unlikely to replace existing imaging methods or enable useful whole-body screening without significant future AI improvements. Longer summary

Scott analyzes Midjourney's announcement of a new medical scanner that uses ultrasound tomography to create 3D images of the body. He explains why, despite being technologically interesting, the scanner faces significant medical limitations: ultrasound cannot penetrate bone or air, limiting its usefulness compared to existing MRI and CT scans; it can't replace portable bedside ultrasound due to requiring patients to be submerged in water; and whole-body screening scans (even with existing superior MRI technology) are currently not recommended by medical consensus due to false positives causing more harm than benefit. Scott suggests the technology might become more viable if future AI advances dramatically improve ultrasound interpretation, wave dynamics for imaging through bone, and the ability to distinguish dangerous findings from harmless abnormalities. The post includes an appendix with Twitter responses from radiologists (universally negative) and other commenters (more optimistic), discussing potential applications like body composition measurement and the challenges of medical screening. Shorter summary