GenAI as Therapist A New York Times op-ed explores how people are using ChatGPT for therapeutic conversations and emotional processing, raising questions about whether AI companions represent innovative digital self-care or a concerning workaround for unmet mental health needs.

USA's "Make HealthTech Great Again" Pledge The White House hosted a summit with 60+ tech companies to sign a HealthTech Ecosystem pledge promoting data interoperability and AI in healthcare, though questions remain about whether this represents genuine reform or just encourages data sharing with private platforms while healthcare infrastructure gets decimated.

Australia Gets Tough on De-Identification Australia's Privacy Commissioner issued new guidance clarifying that supposedly "de-identified" health data used for AI training may still qualify as personal information, potentially ending the era of inadequately anonymised data sharing and pushing the industry toward synthetic data or on-premise learning.

OpenAI's Kenya Study: Clinical Copilot in Action OpenAI's real-world study with Penda Health in Kenya showed their GPT-4o clinical copilot reduced diagnostic errors by 16% and treatment errors by 13% across 40,000 patient visits, demonstrating measurable improvements when AI is properly integrated into clinical workflows.

George and Louise chat with Dr Danny Sands - Pioneer of participatory medicine, discusses the origins of the e-patient movement and participatory medicine, from early email communication with patients and exploring how to maintain human connection while embracing technological advancement

Connect with Danny on LinkedIn

Resources:

NY Times I’m a Therapist. ChatGPT Is Eerily Effective Link

Australian Privacy Commissioner ruling Link

Sands (2025) From Internet to Artificial Intelligence (Al) Bots: Symbiotic Evolutions of Digital Technologies and e-Patients Link

Shout outs to: Liz Salmi, ePatientDave, Danny Sands, Ian Opperman, Gavin Andrews, Dr Amit Thacker Africa Health Business

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