Key Takeaways:
- Anthropic has launched a new suite of health care and life sciences features for its Claude AI platform, allowing users to share access to their health records and better understand their medical information.
- The launch comes after OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, signaling a broader push by major AI companies into the health care field.
- Both tools will allow users to share information from health records and fitness apps to personalize health-related conversations.
- The expansion comes amid heightened scrutiny over whether AI systems can safely interpret medical information and avoid offering harmful guidance.
- Anthropic and OpenAI have emphasized privacy protections around their new offerings, excluding health data from their models’ memory and allowing users to disconnect or edit permissions at any time.
Introduction to AI in Healthcare
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has been a topic of interest in recent years, with major AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI making significant strides in this field. Anthropic’s announcement of a new suite of health care and life sciences features for its Claude AI platform has marked a significant step towards using AI to help people navigate complex health care issues. As Eric Kauderer-Abrams, head of life sciences at Anthropic, stated, "When navigating through health systems and health situations, you often have this feeling that you’re sort of alone and that you’re tying together all this data from all these sources, stuff about your health and your medical records, and you’re on the phone all the time." The new features aim to simplify this process by integrating personal information, medical records, and insurance records, allowing Claude to act as an orchestrator and navigate the complex healthcare system.
The Launch of Claude for Healthcare
The launch of Claude for Healthcare comes just days after OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, signaling a broader push by major AI companies into the health care field. Both tools will allow users to share information from health records and fitness apps, including Apple’s iOS Health app, to personalize health-related conversations. As Kauderer-Abrams explained, "you can integrate all of your personal information together with your medical records and your insurance records, and have Claude as the orchestrator and be able to navigate the whole thing and simplify it for you." This integration has the potential to revolutionize the way people interact with their health care providers and manage their medical information.
Privacy Protections and Safety Concerns
The expansion of AI in healthcare comes amid heightened scrutiny over whether AI systems can safely interpret medical information and avoid offering harmful guidance. Both Anthropic and OpenAI have emphasized privacy protections around their new offerings, excluding health data from their models’ memory and allowing users to disconnect or edit permissions at any time. As Anthropic stated in a blog post, "health data shared with Claude is excluded from the model’s memory and not used for training future systems." This emphasis on privacy and safety is crucial, as the misuse of AI in healthcare can have severe consequences. As Anthropic’s acceptable use policy requires, "a qualified professional … must review the content or decision prior to dissemination or finalization" when Claude is used for "healthcare decisions, medical diagnosis, patient care, therapy, mental health, or other medical guidance."
The Potential of AI in Healthcare
The potential of AI in healthcare is vast, with tools like ChatGPT and Claude able to help users understand complex and inscrutable medical reports, double-check doctors’ decisions, and summarize and synthesize medical information that would otherwise be inaccessible. As Kauderer-Abrams noted, "these tools are incredibly powerful, and for many people, they can save you 90% of the time that you spend on something." However, it is essential to remember that AI systems are not substitutes for professional judgment, and human experts must still review and verify the information provided by these tools.
The Future of AI in Healthcare
The rollout of Claude for Healthcare and ChatGPT Health marks a significant step towards the integration of AI in healthcare. As Dhruv Parthasarathy, chief technology officer at Commure, stated, Claude’s features will help Commure in "saving clinicians millions of hours annually and returning their focus to patient care." The future of AI in healthcare holds much promise, with the potential to automate time-consuming tasks, improve patient care, and enhance the overall healthcare experience. However, it is crucial to address the safety concerns and ensure that AI systems are used responsibly and with proper oversight. As Kauderer-Abrams emphasized, "we’re not claiming that you can completely remove the human from the loop. We see it as a tool to amplify what the human experts can do."
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/anthropic-health-care-rcna252872