Advances in AI are helping public and private organizations across all sectors of society become smarter and better problem solvers, while also pointing the way toward “intelligent” health systems that are using AI and data to establish care and operational strategies.

That was the message coming out of a recent virtual summit, hosted by Microsoft, at which stakeholders from several sectors spoke to how they see AI rapidly changing how their colleagues do business.

According to Tom Lawry, national director for AI, health and life sciences at Microsoft, a necessary step for healthcare organizations is an overall change of mindset, not just a switch to a new technology. 

“What we’re seeing in that AI-powered world in health care is, many organizations moving away from the traditional provision of services, and towards the use of AI to create what’s coming to be known as intelligent health systems,” he said. “Intelligent health systems leverage data and AI to create strategic advantage, and they do that by making services more efficient. They also do that, not just in a little area or two, but they really focus on making things better across all touchpoints, all experiences, and all channels that a consumer may turn to when it comes to a health care need.”

Lawry also said large organizations should implement “a modern data estate involving all the data they own, control, manage or use, regardless of where it’s stored,” as this will allow them to make decisions more quickly, a capacity that is becoming more critical because of the speed at which new data is being generated.

While the summit addressed issues outside healthcare, as well, participants discussed a number of topics that are also confronting healthcare stakeholders.

For example, Microsoft Chief Responsible AI Officer Natasha Crampton mentioned “fairness and inclusiveness” as concerns that keep her up at night. She recognized the complexity of fairness issues, but as a baseline for all organizations she pointed to the importance of having a diverse team working on building the technologies, thinking deeply about the context in which a system will be used, and being thoughtful and carefully curating data sets to test and train models.

“Start with principles,” she advised. “You need a north star to keep coming back to, and starting with a set of principles is how you do that, making sure that they’re aligned with the values of your organization. Move to practices … and figure out what tangible steps you can take in order to advance those ends in your organization.”

On a more directly healthcare-related note, Kendee Yamaguchi, executive director of trade and economic development for Snohomish County, Wash., cited the importance of AI when her county first grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Knowing they needed to put out critical information as soon as possible, she said that within 24 hours, the county had set up AI-powered chatbots to answer the public’s questions, including a Spanish-language option.