The hard questions behind the shiny tools: bias, accountability, consent and what responsible technology looks like in health and AI.
15 articles
A patient said no to an AI scribe and the doctor had never heard it before. With 40% of UK GPs already using ambient scribes and Healthwatch England finding 81% of patients want to be asked first, this edition argues consent to the infrastructure of treatment was never designed. The GOSH trial's 92% consent rate shows the ask is the fix, not the obstacle.
In one month, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood and Coinbase all shipped rails that let an AI agent spend, trade and settle money with no human present. Finance spent thirty years proving a human was there at payment, and just pivoted to proving a robot is authorised. Healthcare faces the identical pattern, and should demand a written mandate before handing any agent the wallet.
When AI can predict heart failure five years out and pancreatic cancer three years early, a new social category emerges: the pre-diagnosed patient. Who gains and who loses when early-detection data collides with insurance, employment, and personal identity, and who owns the verdict?
A viral AI project changed its name three times in two weeks while people happily handed it access to their entire machines. The adoption patterns are identical to what we see in health tech.
AI-generated praise is eroding critical thinking. Why four words might be the most radical prompt you'll ever write.
Your GP sees you twice a year; your skincare routine sees you twice daily. As L'Oréal maps 260+ longevity biomarkers, Beiersdorf launches an 'Age Clock' and Unilever links the microbiome to visible ageing, beauty brands are quietly becoming health platforms, raising hard questions about data portability, duty of care, and who owns your epigenome.
Healthcare data breaches hit 275 million records in 2025. As wearables and AI diagnostics expand the attack surface, a new 'digital immune system' is emerging to fight back.
Remember when people strapped phones to dogs to fake their daily steps? That ingenuity was just the warm-up act. As we move toward health-conditional universal basic income systems, we're not just designing new social policies — we're accidentally creating the blueprint for tomorrow's most lucrative underground economy.
Ever wondered why you keep hearing the same song on every Spotify playlist? Now imagine that same algorithmic manipulation deciding your medical treatment.
Healthcare stands at a fascinating crossroads: AI systems now pass medical exams and offer clinical insights that sometimes surpass human understanding. Yet we're still debating transcription tools while missing the bigger picture.
What will employees demand from employers in 10 or 15 years, once benefits move beyond wellness apps and into the fabric of biology itself? A look at the biological arms race for talent, and the ethical tightrope it forces companies to walk.
Last night I opened a health-chatbot window in 'incognito' and asked the question I'd never dare voice at the doctor's office. The bot answered, but then came the moment of truth: should I let my GP see this private thread for better care, or keep it off the record and guard my privacy?
Is the AI you're using actually using you? This latest exploration unpacks the subtle shift from creators to "ghost workers," where feedback, not attention, is the new currency.
In healthcare innovation, the line between visionary and controversial is never straight. This piece challenges black-and-white thinking and advocates for a more nuanced view of unconventional healthcare pioneers.
Wellness tourism is growing fast, but does the current wellcation offering truly deliver lasting impact; or is it just wellness-washing with a price tag?
