Ignacio H. Medrano, the founder and Chief Medical Officer at Savana, discusses the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the healthcare sector amidst resistance from some quarters. Drawing parallels with the initial skepticism about platforms like Netflix by traditional cinema and TV executives, Medrano analyses a similar refusal to embrace change within his own industry. He cites an example of a LinkedIn post by a CRO head who emphasized the value of people and passion over the emerging technologies like AI, big data, and machine learning.
Despite acknowledging the fears and insecurities that such rapid advancements can induce, Medrano warns against underestimating the scale of the socio-economic revolution that AI is likely to spur, potentially surpassing the impact of the Industrial Revolution. He believes that the resistance is a manifestation of anxieties related to the potential implications of AI on traditional ways of working.
Medrano explains his belief in the positive power of AI, especially within the realm of healthcare. He references an interview with Geoffrey Hinton, known as the father of Google’s machine learning, who shares similar sentiments. He describes this optimism in the context of his work at Savana, where they employ AI to automate tasks like the generation of disease records, eliminating the need for humans to manually fill out variables.
Although Medrano concedes that there will be an inevitable adjustment required from traditionally manual processes to adapt to such augmentation, he views such challenges as a small price to pay for the significant efficiencies AI can bring into the healthcare sector. He presents Savana as a pioneer in capitalizing on the practical benefits of AI, striving to create useful and impactful disease databases using AI technology.
