Intensifying Competition: Google Unveils MedLM AI Suite to Streamline Medical Procedures
- Category: News
Google sees an opportunity to delegate healthcare tasks to generative AI models, introducing MedLM, a suite fine-tuned for the medical industry. Developed based on Med-PaLM 2, this offering is available to U.S. Google Cloud customers through Vertex AI. Two models are offered: a larger one for complex tasks and a smaller, fine-tunable model for scaling across various healthcare tasks. Google emphasizes a tailored approach, recognizing that different use cases may require specific models. HCA Healthcare and BenchSci have piloted MedLM, leveraging it for drafting patient notes and advancing biomarker identification, respectively.
Google, along with Microsoft and Amazon, is racing to dominate the healthcare AI market, recently marked by Amazon’s AWS HealthScribe and Microsoft’s AI-powered healthcare products. While MedLM shows promise, challenges include potential errors, token limitations, and long-term AI management. Google plans to integrate its advanced AI model, Gemini, into MedLM for enhanced performance. BenchSci and Deloitte are among entities testing and utilizing MedLM for drug discovery and healthcare client support.
Healthcare into AI too:
Early adopters like HCA Healthcare and BenchSci have begun piloting MedLM in actual healthcare settings, showcasing its potential to automate emergency medicine physician documentation and expedite hospital nurse handoff processes. While Google’s initiative demonstrates promise, the technology faces challenges, including the potential for AI-generated errors, token limitations, and the ongoing management of AI functionality over time.
To further enhance MedLM’s capabilities, Google plans to integrate its advanced AI model, Gemini, promising improved overall performance. As the race intensifies among tech giants, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are vying for dominance in the lucrative healthcare AI market, aiming to revolutionize the industry and unlock its potential, estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars by 2032. BenchSci and Deloitte’s involvement underscores the diverse applications of MedLM in advancing drug discovery and supporting healthcare clients, marking a pivotal development in the intersection of AI and healthcare.
Google’s New AI MedLM
Mayo Clinic Researchers:
Google, however, is not waiting for official regulations and has initiated AI pilots with Mayo Clinic researchers, assisting in various capacities. HCA Healthcare, overseeing over 2,000 hospitals, employs Google’s AI to compose clinical notes, while Bayer Pharmaceuticals and electronic medical record company Meditech are testing it for crafting communications and summarizing patient history, respectively. Notably, human oversight remains a crucial element in these trials. As policymakers and regulatory bodies contemplate their stance, Google strategically hires former government healthcare regulators to advocate for the company’s interests in navigating the evolving landscape of AI in healthcare.
