Health Systems Action

Author name: Gareth Kantor

An Old German Philosopher Rescues AI Users

Advances in artificial intelligence have come at breathtaking speed but have outpaced most ordinary people’s ability to make productive use of these amazing technologies. Some people walk away disappointed because they use Large Language Models (LLMs) inappropriately, as if they were search engines, and get less than impressive results. A good answer to how to …

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The IQ of AI

Read an edited and updated (March 18, 2024) version of this article here, on  Insight Health Solutions – https://www.insight.co.za Do Google Gemini’s claims match their ambitious aims? Measuring human intelligence (“IQ”) is challenging, even controversial. As we enter the age of artificial intelligence (AI), in healthcare and everything else, how will we measure the “IQ …

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Solving the Twelve Language Problem in Healthcare

Over the years, I’ve used Google Translate where I had to, including on trips to China – and found it useful enough. But Google Translate is primitive compared to the ability of today’s generative AI applications to read and write fluently in multiple languages. When it comes to languages, my mom’s not bad for a …

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In 2011 we could have ended the Eskom crisis, reduced residential carbon emissions and had healthier air to breathe

August 2008 saw the first of South Africa’s rolling blackouts (load shedding). Three years later, the R360 billion financing of two massive coal-fired power stations – Kusile and Medupi – was approved. At around the same time, financing to move the country toward a very different energy future was proposed: a Green Bond to pay …

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Why pagers are ancient relics – but still alive in the hospital

In the smartphone era, we tend to think of pagers are relics, as outdated as “Beepers”, a rap song from their heyday in the 80s. In fact, they’re still used in hospitals throughout America, at a time when even drug dealers have abandoned them. Two emergency room (ER) doctors in a busy San Francisco hospital …

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Why Placebos Please

If you’re in your local pharmacy, looking for overpriced razor blades for example, it’s difficult to avoid them: a multitude of herbal and homeopathic remedies, naturopathic, ayurvedic and traditional medicines, pills and potions promising help with every possible health problem – fatigue, insomnia, impotence, pain, indigestion, inflammation, depression, fever, low immunity, you name it. What …

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Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence and Bias in Healthcare – Problem or Opportunity?

One of the main concerns with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare is the potential for racial and gender bias. This happens because AI-based algorithms are built on data that mirror the unequal societies in which we live. But algorithms are only tools. Depending on how they are made and used, they can introduce problematic bias …

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