This month we’ve got a special mini-episode format we call Refills, where we top up your prescription of healthtech topics and trends. Join us, your co-hosts Bella and Ola, for a chat about grief, ambient scribing, and AI’s role in both. With questions like: Could AI’s potential for creating new experiences with passed loved ones interrupt our natural grieving process? Does saved time through ambient scribing mean more rest for doctors and intentional time with patients, or will it increase pressure to see as many patients as possible? We'll explore how the answers are often not black and white and how these considerations impact our work as designers.

Show Notes 🖊️

At 01:06, Bella brings up Tharin Pillay’s article ‘‘The Dead Have Never Been This Talkative: The Rise of AI Resurrection,’ which she references throughout the first half of the episode for evidence on false memory and AI’s role in grief. The article is available here https://time.com/7298290/ai-death-grief-memory/

At 06:56, Bella explains how memory is dynamic, and can warp over time based on how you retell it. More information can be found in this article from Northwestern University https://womenshealth.obgyn.msu.edu/blog/memory-telephone-game

At 15:11, Ola references the controversy around the use of Anthony Bourdain’s voice in the posthumous documentary Roadrunner. Helen Rosner’s New Yorker article dives deeper into the ethics discussion https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-ethics-of-a-deepfake-anthony-bourdain-voice

At 21:25, Ola describes Abridge’s competitive features and their most recent $300 million funding round. More information can be found at the Abridge website https://www.abridge.com/ and the Wall Street Journal’s article on the latest valuation https://www.wsj.com/articles/abridge-whose-ai-app-takes-notes-for-doctors-valued-at-5-3-billion-at-funding-801825f3

At 32:29, Ola references Jakob Nielsen’s article on how AI is changing our UI paradigm again for the first time in 60 years https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ai-paradigm/

Chapters 📖

00:00-01:05 Introduction

01:06-07:40 What is false memory and our own experiences

07:41-11:49 How generative AI could impact the grieving process

11:50-16:14 Ethical considerations of AI-generating people who have passed

16:15-20:19 AI ‘relationships’ and validation without accountability

20:23-22:42 What is ambient scribing and why did Abridge just get $300 million in funding

22:43-25:05 Pros and cons of AI medical transcription

25:06-27:44 Cognitive laziness

27:45-30:06 What will doctors do with the time saved by AI

30:07-33:53 Our responsibility as designers of AI products