Health Care at the Breaking Point: Dr. Zak Kohane Returns to NEJM AI Grand Rounds

In this episode of NEJM AI Grand Rounds, hosts Andy Beam and Raj Manrai interview Dr. Zak Kohane, Editor-in-Chief, about the past year in AI and medicine. Kohane discusses the increasing need for AI in medicine to bridge the gap caused by a shortage of frontline doctors and shares insights from his recent perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine, emphasizing the importance of comparing AI's capabilities to the existing state of medicine rather than to a "super expert." The trio also discusses various papers published in NEJM AI, focusing on the use of LLMs in review processes and the creation of patient-friendly consent forms, and debate the role and definition of AI in medical advancements. Kohane introduces the Human Values Project, aimed at understanding human values in different contexts to better align AI decision-making, and shares a personal story about using a smart scale to monitor his mother's health, highlighting the importance of trust and personalized interventions. The episode concludes with a lightning round of questions and a discussion about the future of AI in medicine, with a mix of optimism and caution about the potential impact on the doctor-patient relationship.