Industry Watcher’s Digest

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.

• Silicon Valley developers are pursuing autonomous AI like so many Captain Ahabs chasing that one elusive whale. Why wouldn’t they? The spoils will surely combine bragging rights with big dollars. Reuters reports that some early efforts funded so far “are only a taste of the sophistication that could come in future years from increasingly advanced and autonomous agents as the industry pushes towards an artificial general intelligence (AGI) that can equal or surpass humans in myriad cognitive tasks.” Get the rest.
   
• AI is dismaying the living daylights out of Generation Z. Especially addled by anxiety are the Zoomers who are willing to start low on the corporate ladder and work their way up. And they’re not foolish to fret. It’s entry-level work that seems the lowest hanging fruit for algorithms to pluck. At Insider, the head of a PR agency focused on business and tech sounds a scolding note. “Humans can be enhanced by AI, helped by AI, but replacing them with AI is a shortsighted decision made by myopic bean counters who can't see the value in a person,” he writes. “It’s worth considering whether investments in AI should instead be replaced with actual training and mentorship programs with financial rewards.” Read the whole thing.
   
• AI can help warn clinicians off of supposedly unharmful medicines that could cause disabilities in preborn babies. The technology was developed at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Mount Sinai news item here.
   
• When seeking health advice, consumers perceive little difference between ChatGPT and human healthcare workers. So found researchers at New York University. In their study, participants correctly identified chatbot responses 65.5% of the time and provider responses 65.1% of the time. Peer-reviewed study here, NYU news item here.
   
• With an assist from AI, simple bone density scans of the type used to diagnose osteoporosis can detect abdominal aortic calcifications. These, in turn, can predict not only heart attack and stroke but also risks for falls, fractures and dementia. An international research group made the finding. Australia’s Edith Cowan University has the story.
   
• Two weeks ago K Health stood out as the only health app to make a watchdog’s list of ‘most invasive’ AI apps across all industries. This week the NYC-based company is getting the star treatment at Forbes. Headline: “This AI Chatbot Has Helped Doctors Treat 3 Million People–And May Be Coming To A Hospital Near You.” Read the piece.
   
• Eye-catching investments in healthcare AI:
   
  • Augmedics raises $82.5 million to accelerate adoption of augmented reality spine surgery
  • Causaly raises $60 Million in Series B funding to catalyze AI-powered preclinical discovery
  • Feinstein Institutes gifted $10 million by Scott and Debby Rechler to combat disparities with AI healthcare
  • Gradia Health secures $4.2 million in seed funding to improve ongoing care for patients with chronic conditions
     
• From AIin.Healthcare’s news partners:
   
  • Health Imaging—ImpressionGPT, a ChatGPT-based framework, can accurately summarize radiology reports
  • Cardiovascular Business—No echocardiography, no problem? AI evaluates cardiac function using chest X-rays
  • Health Imaging—Natural language processing can limit report discrepancies between AI and radiologists
     

• Someone you know would benefit by reviewing the basics of AI and machine learning. That someone might even be you. We won’t tell. In any case, InfoWorld has posted a primo primer. (Hurry up and click, would you? We can’t look away forever.)