Industry Watcher’s Digest

IT AI hardware infrastructure

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days. 

  • DeepSeek has awakened many snoozers from a deep sleep. Last week’s takeoff of the Chinese LLM struck many like a cold bucket of water in the face. How did a communist-controlled company develop a highly competitive model on, essentially, a shoestring budget? How did it tank Nvidia stock with a bargain-basement approach to chips? President Trump wasted no time weighing in, calling the news a “wakeup call” for the U.S. tech sector. Others labeled it a “Sputnik moment.” Meanwhile, in a time of deep political polarization across the West, it comes as no surprise that, this week, liberals and conservatives are diagnosing the development from diametrically opposed perspectives. The left is using the episode to call for more governmental control over technological innovation while the right makes the case for less. 
    • On the left, The Nation: “How are we still shocked? China is using the same tools that built America in the first place: state-led investment, industrial policy and actually planning for the future. What’s shocking isn’t what China has accomplished—it’s how little we’ve done to keep up.” 
    • On the right, National Review: “The stormy stock market reaction, a reasonable reaction to the discovery that America’s AI lead had been overstated, reflects uncertainty over what comes next. Our guess: The race is on to identify AI’s killer apps. The U.S. can prevail, but it should retain light-touch regulation—except where dealings with China are concerned.” 
    • Lather, rinse, repeat.  
       
  • And in the middle, a plea for better cybersecurity in healthcare. At Forbes, healthcare technology consultant David Chou says the DeepSeek surprise ought to rouse healthcare CIOs to more rigorously evaluate their preparedness for breaches, data privacy and “long-term viability”—before integrating new AI tools into their respective operations. “Healthcare CIOs are at a crossroads, facing the choice between playing it safe or embracing AI innovation,” he writes. “By balancing innovation with preparedness, they can drive transformation while protecting their organizations from unforeseen challenges.”
     
  • Whatever RFK Jr.’s fate as HHS head nominee, he’s likely to keep publicizing his views on public health. One of his prescriptions involves AI and, with it, telehealth. “President Trump is determined to end the hemorrhaging of rural hospitals, and he’s asked me to do that through the use of AI, through telemedicine,” he told the senators who took turns grilling and cheering him at his Jan. 29 confirmation hearing. “The Cleveland Clinic has developed an AI nurse that you cannot distinguish from a human being that has diagnosed as good as any doctor. And we can provide [tech-aided] concierge care to every American in this country, even the remote parts of Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, et cetera.” Video clip here. 
     
  • Soon enough, ‘everyone’ will have AI. And when they do, the world’s political, business and organizational leaders will have to deal with seven inescapable realities. In Charter/Time, journalist Kevin Delaney lays these out, drawing from a discussion at the most recent annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Making the list: “AI will be in your org chart sooner than you think,” “AI adoption must start from the ground up” and “AI could erode workplace relationships.” Read the rest. 
     
  • Does healthcare AI work better for men than for women? Baroness Gillian Merron thinks so. In a recent address, the U.K.’s parliamentary undersecretary of state for patient safety, women’s health and mental health, a member of the Labour Party, said evidence exists to support the hypothesis. “Without enough care,” she warned, “AI could potentially—in a not-good way—incorporate all the same biases that have plagued our healthcare system for too long.” Transcript here. 
     
  • Coming to a pharmacy near you: drugstore AI. But it won’t replace pharmacists—just augment them. Sound familiar? “I see it as history repeating itself,” Scott Nelson, PharmD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center tells Drug Topics. When the profession saw the rise of computerized provider order entry, or CPOE, Nelson reminds, some observers predicted the gutting of pharmacist jobs. “Well,” he says, “pharmacists are still here.” But he expects AI to gain traction in pharmacy practice, “because pharmacists are in the electronic health record—documenting notes, counseling patients, that kind of stuff.” Read the rest. 
     
  • A person’s moral development is measured not by the information or knowledge they possess but by the depth of their charity. Thus, “how we incorporate AI ‘to include the least of our brothers and sisters, the vulnerable and those most in need will be the true measure of our humanity.’” So states the Vatican’s teaching office in a document on AI released this week. “The ‘wisdom of the heart,’” the document continues, “can illuminate and guide the human-centered use of this technology to help promote the common good, care for our ‘common home,’ advance the search for the truth, foster integral human development, favor human solidarity and fraternity, and lead humanity to its ultimate goal: happiness and full communion with God.” Sounds like a tall order for AI users. We’ll see. The National Catholic Register has coverage. 
     
  • Last thoughts on the DeepSeek gut punch. For today, anyway. At The Hill, the economist, entrepreneur and author Sebastien Laye strikes a sanguine note. DeepSeek’s emergence, he asserts, represents “a powerful reminder that the AI race is far from over. While it underscores the rise of China as a formidable competitor, it also highlights the enduring strengths of the U.S. AI ecosystem.” 
     
  • Recent research in the news: 
     
  • Notable FDA Approvals:
     
  • Funding news of note:
     
  • From AIin.Healthcare’s news partners:
     

 

Dave Pearson
Dave Pearson

Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.

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