Industry Watcher’s Digest

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.

  • Just because you have the right to do something with an emerging technology doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. In the 1990s, the birth and survival of Dolly the cloned sheep raised serious moral and ethical concerns about cloning humans. The next decade, the experimental insertion of human DNA into a rabbit embryo set off similar worries over human-nonhuman chimeras. These are just two relatively recent chapters in the ever-unfinished book of exciting yet unsettling technological advances. And now we’re midway through the 2020s. What will be the real-world AI use case that launches society into a heated moment of reckoning over guiding principles? For some, the question has bolted from hypothetical to urgent. Their spur: the second coming of a Trump-led executive branch. This one, of course, will be backed by same-party majorities in both chambers of Congress—and guided by tech visionary/Trump whisperer Elon Musk. Predicting a laissez-faire attitude toward AI will displace the prevailing appetite for AI guardrails, Axios technology editor Scott Rosenberg warns that those “hoping to build AI with strong ethical safeguards, bias protections or safety limits should expect an uphill battle. The odds are great that if something can be done with AI, it will be done.” Hear him out. 
     
  • AI roles claim three of LinkedIn’s top 25 hottest jobs in the U.S. In fact, AI engineer and AI consultant come in at the tippity-top, Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. And AI researcher lands at a very respectable No. 12. LinkedIn analysts came by the rankings after examining millions of jobs started by LI members between the start of 2022 and about midway through 2024. In the reader comments section, a talent recruiter notes the prevalence of AI know-how across the board. “[C]ompanies aren't just hiring for technical skills anymore but [are looking] for people who can bridge the gap between AI and human insight,” the reader remarks. “It’s not about AI replacing jobs, it’s about professionals who can leverage AI to enhance human capabilities.” Read the rest. 
     
  • Healthcare delivery is growing in complexity as the healthcare workforce shrinks in manpower. AI can help manage the imbalance two ways. One, AI can help patients appropriately self-manage their care. And two, the technology can help the healthcare system evolve from a 1:1 doctor/patient paradigm to a 1:many model—and without sacrificing care quality or scrimping on patient experience. That’s the stated vision of Daniel Yang, MD, vice president of AI and emerging technologies for Kaiser Permanente. “Our belief is that AI should never replace the judgment or expertise of our doctors and clinicians,” Yang tells HIMSS Media’s Healthcare IT News. “To succeed in this, we must assess any AI tool before deploying it to ensure we understand how to safely and effectively use it.”
     
  • All AI politics is local. Some health systems are taking charge of change rather than waiting for change to descend upon them from Washington—or from their own statehouses. In North Carolina, UNC Health’s CMIO, David McSwain, MD, MPH, feels state-level AI legislation is a bad idea. “But the reality of it is, that is what’s going to happen,” he says. “What we want to do is establish state-level [AI] legislation that minimizes the burden on health systems, minimizes the burden on providers, minimizes the potential negative health equity impacts.” Coverage by NC Health News here. 
     
  • What’s law got to do with it? If by “it” you mean AI, the answer is plenty. In a new report from the Sheppard Mullin law firm, Carolyn Metnick, JD, and colleagues look back on 2024 and ahead to 2025. As one would expect, they keep an eye trained on the legal considerations of governmental AI oversight—and the absence, to date, thereof. “In light of a lack of cohesive federal framework for AI regulation, industry groups such as the Coalition for Health AI and others have stepped in to fill the gap, providing frameworks for responsible AI use,” Metnick and co-authors write. “[T]he focus on AI utilization in light of the California Act, as well as other state laws and federal actions, is likely just the tip of the spear in terms of AI-related regulation that will develop in the healthcare space.” The report is available in full for free. 
     
  • A word to wise healthcare IT leaders: Think hard about how you’ll integrate AI solutions into clinician workflows such that the technology makes friends rather than resisters. After all, any selected solution may be wonderful, but if it’s implemented poorly, the adopting organization “might as well have done nothing at all.” That’s from two healthcare strategists at CDW. “Most healthcare organizations have limited budgets; therefore, some AI tools will make the cut while others won’t,” they write in HealthTech magazine. “Tools that don’t solve an existing problem or provide some form of return on the money being spent will be a lower priority for an organization, which may choose to do what it’s always done instead.” 
     
  • Is AI adoption a marathon or a sprint? It’s both at once. So say IBM researchers after surveying 1,500 executives finds organizations. Big Blue finds responding organizations speeding into the AI age on both conventional and generative fronts—while slowly but surely letting the technology permeate all functions in the enterprise to some degree. “For example, 88% use AI to a moderate or significant extent in demand forecasting, 87% for HR help desks, 84% in creating and managing trade promotions, and 81% in inventory and order management,” the authors write. “But over the next 12 months, companies are keen on expanding to more sophisticated uses that require more complex system integrations and collaboration.”
     
  • Recent research in the news:
     
  • 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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