Industry Watcher’s Digest

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.

• Pope Francis is pleading with the nations of the world to come together around a binding treaty regulating the development and use of AI “in its many forms.” The Vatican released the written message Dec. 14, ahead of Francis’s presenting it live during the World Day of Peace on Jan. 1. Reuters reports the Pope will urge AI developers and users to prevent algorithms from “replacing human values”—and to beware of a “technological dictatorship” that might threaten human life. More here.
   
• Allina Health, Boston Children’s Hospital, CVS Health and 25 other big names in healthcare have signed onto the Biden Administration’s pledge to advance healthcare AI only responsibly. The latest 28 follow the lead of Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and Inflection from last summer. Read the White House’s Dec. 14 blog post here.
   
• Meanwhile Accenture, Augmedix, Deloitte, HCA Healthcare and BenchSci are among the players working with Google Cloud to bring the latter’s healthcare-specific foundation model to life in the U.S. Calling the model MedLM, Google says it’s “the future of our medical generative AI.” Details here.
   
• HHS has finalized its rule for advancing health IT interoperability and AI transparency. The move follows the release of the rule’s proposal last April. Called HTI-1, the rule addresses patient access, interoperability and standards, including enhanced information-blocking requirements, interoperability-focused reporting metrics and USCDI Version 3. Details here.
   
• Only a quarter of healthcare executives interviewed by KLAS Research have implemented generative AI solutions to date. However, well more than half—58%—say their organization is likely to implement or purchase a solution over the next year. More findings plus a link to order the full report here.
   
• The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, aka DARPA, has awarded the University of Maryland School of Medicine $7.3 million to innovate technology for triaging trauma patients. The work will include tapping machine learning to quickly predict levels of need for lifesaving interventions, especially in mass casualty events and other emergencies in which medical teams are overwhelmed by sheer patient counts. Details.
   
• Need help rekindling a romantic relationship? There’s an app for that. It proved effective in a peer-reviewed scientific study, with 8 of 10 participants reporting “improved and healthier” couplehoods in just a month of usage. More here.
   
• From AIinHealthcare’s news partners:
   
  • Health Imaging: FDA has now cleared 700 AI healthcare algorithms, more than 76% in radiology
  • Radiology Business: South Korean imaging AI vendor Lunit to acquire rival for $193M
  • Cardiovascular Business: Cardiology now has more than 100 FDA cleared AI algorithms; experts say that is just the beginning
  • Radiology Business: What’s the missing link to get radiologists using AI?
  • Cardiovascular Business: 5 key criteria for AI prediction models in cardiology
  • Health Imaging: Virtual reality ‘gaming’ used to plan delicate cancer surgeries