Over the past several years, I’ve had the dubious pleasure of reporting on many a coalition springing to life around a hot button issue. Usually, these announcements represent a form of vaporware, in which members get to attach their name to an issue without doing much real work on the subject.
Given how long AI has been in the public eye — and in real-world use rather than serving as a talking point — it’s unusual to see yet another group spring up around this technology. Having puzzled over this for a while, I’ve decided that this back-to-the-future approach may be due largely to COVID-related reluctance to come out too strongly in favor of anything new.
This group, known as the Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Coalition (AI3C) includes a number of providers, including Novant Health, the Cleveland Clinic, Duke Health, Intermountain Healthcare, UC San Diego, Providence and the University of Virginia, definitely a formidable list of organizations. Microsoft, the Brookings Institution, Plug and Play are also on board. All told, there’s a ton going on here.
When describing its goals and objectives, though, the group more or less punts.
Its launch statement describes its mission as co-creating AI solutions that produce positive societal healthcare outcomes, identifying and setting the AI strategy for a variety of projects and tracking the success of AI adoption in the industry.
More specifically, the group says, it’s focused on three main areas:
* General economic and industrial challenges, including research transfer, industry standards and funding instruments
* Digital skills and employability, including organizational and cultural challenges, including labor policies
* Data privacy issues – such as data access and shared innovation
So at this point you may be asking yourself, “why is she writing all of this up if it’s not a big deal?”
Well, the answer is that to me at least, there’s a fair amount to be decoded here about the status of AI in the healthcare industry.
Perhaps the most important thing I see here is despite our being embroiled in AI as an industry for quite some time now, a company the size of Microsoft is still slapping its name on something which is barely half-baked. (Maybe one-quarter baked?)
It’s not because Microsoft isn’t current with trends in AI, to be sure. Even if this wasn’t guaranteed by its sheer size and depth, the work MS is doing with its new toy Nuance shows signs of looking intelligently at the future of AI in medical practices. As I noted in a piece I wrote last year, Microsoft’s near $20 billion acquisition of Nuance cemented its place as a leader in the growing market for AI-driven, hands-free automated clinical documentation. Not only that, it’s worth noting that Microsoft and Nuance have been working with Providence on AI stuff for a while.
Rather, what I see here is some rather substantial healthcare organizations tip-toeing up timidly to be identified as champions of AI in their organizations. At this point I have to say I am surprised to see them take this timid posture.
But the truth is that even where something as powerful (and widely accepted) as AI is involved, it seems that the pandemic has made many powerful health leaders take a far more conservative position on still-emerging technology.
