Healthcare

The NY Times reported this week that Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the world's wealthiest people, is putting both his money and his mouth into an artificial intelligence startup that he will help manage as its co-chief executive. The company, Project Prometheus, is coming out of the gates with purported funding of $6.2 billion, partly from Mr. Bezos (according to undisclosed sources), making it one of the most well-financed early-stage AI startups in the world.

This week Jonathan Kao and his UCLA-based team published exciting new findings in Nature Machine Intelligences that were also summarized in a companion article in Nature. 

AI’s integration into "failure-averse" sectors where mistakes can have catastrophic consequences marks a recent and critical frontier. Japan’s exploration of AI for nuclear power facility inspections is emblematic of this shift, as nuclear oversight is synonymous with “zero tolerance for error.”

The convergence of genomics, computational mathematics, and artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the landscape of biomedical research and clinical practice.

The integration of BCIs (Brain-Computer Interfaces) with AI is reshaping the boundaries of human-machine interaction. AI enhances BCIs by processing and interpreting complex neural data, enabling more precise, adaptive, and efficient control of external devices. This convergence has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, augment human cognition, and redefine the interface between humans and technology.

The Open Agentic Web refers to an evolution of the Internet in which autonomous, AI-powered agents act as intermediaries between users and digital services, operating across platforms, applications, and devices. These agents are not siloed within proprietary ecosystems but are interoperable, open-source, and capable of negotiating, executing, and personalizing tasks on behalf of individuals and organizations.

Being a cautious AI optimist, in INSTANT AI UPDATE 9, I wrote about AI hallucinations and the risks associated with AI providing “false but probable-sounding information.” This week’s headline about AI in med schools led me to research the growth of AI in medical education and identify the risks associated with this shift. 

This week, I've been working on the new INSTANT AI: APPLE INTELLIGENCE EDITION Chapter 8: Health & Fitness Insights Powered by AI. As part of this, I've been reviewing and considering the implications of Apple's latest information on Project Mulberry (and its successor project called Project Quartz). Here's my take on how this all comes together: