Bob Wachter

And whose implementation, the way we put it in at UCSF versus the way it's put in in a rural hospital 100 miles from here, probably isn't going to change all that much about the way a torvastatin works on your blood pressure or a CT scan reader works in giving you an accurate reading.

But most of AI is not like that.

Most of AI can shapeshift tomorrow compared to what it did today.

Most of what it's doing is giving answers or insights based on the literature.

How is that different than regulating a textbook or a medical journal?

So I don't think we have even begun to think about what the regulatory infrastructure looks like to get this right.

I think the Trump administration is going too far in an anti-regulatory way, but I do think the risk of over-regulating this in the short term is higher than the risk of under-regulating it.

There are sufficient guardrails in the healthcare system, maybe with the exception of direct-to-consumer use of these tools.

But in terms of my institution, a place like UCSF, is a $15 billion business that has a terrific reputation.

It's surrounded by a whole lot of malpractice attorneys.

We're going to be really careful about bringing an AI into our system until we're pretty darn sure that it's going to work and be effective and not hurt anybody.

There are a lot of existing guardrails, along with just professional conservatism, that I think if you try to have government regulate every single decision support tool, that's impossible.

There's no way they can keep up with the speed of innovation here.

So I think we've got a lot of work to do to figure out the regulatory environment.

But in the short term, I think a relatively light regulatory touch is the right way to go.

So that's what Bob Wachter has been thinking about, how to lay out a plan for a full-on merger between AI and healthcare.

And let's say that merger happens.

What should we expect?

What are some of the most wonderful benefits to us, the users of the healthcare system?

I went back to Pierre Elias to ask about that.