Generative, open artificial intelligence products have won new mainstream attention, and leaders across sectors are looking for ways to apply it to accelerate their success—healthcare being no exception. According to Jure Leskovec, professor of computer science at Stanford Engineering, quoted in Stanford Magazine: “Previously, medical AI models could only address very small, narrow pieces of the health care puzzle. Now we are entering a new era, where it’s much more about larger pieces of the puzzle in this high stakes field.”
However, there is growing awareness and consensus “that the technology poses an extinction risk as great as pandemics and nuclear war,” according to a letter signed by more than 350 tech and AI scientists as reported by The Wall Street Journal last month. Specifically for health, global experts have been clear that these technologies will only widen dangerous disparities if not developed with specific intent to reduce them.