In this Apollo House fireside chat, Unity Stoakes and Vinod Khosla discuss “Health Moonshots in the Age of Superintelligence,” exploring the potential of AI to transform healthcare. Khosla shares his optimism about AI’s role in revolutionizing medicine, highlighting how it could surpass human performance in certain areas. He emphasizes the importance of AI-driven primary care and mental health therapy, advocating for an "AI intern" model where AI systems are supervised by clinicians. The conversation also touches on AI's potential for improving global healthcare accessibility, trust in technology, and the need for tailored solutions to avoid misuse.

🌍 AI's Potential to Revolutionize Global Healthcare: Khosla believes that AI can offer better healthcare in rural areas, such as India, than in highly advanced medical centers like Stanford, by providing AI-only solutions in remote areas.

🤖 AI Surpassing Human Performance: AI is expected to outpace humans in areas like complex diagnosis and mental health therapy, with studies showing AI achieving up to 93% accuracy compared to human doctors’ 73%.

🎓 AI Internship Model for Healthcare: Khosla proposes an "intern model" for AI in healthcare, where AI systems are closely supervised by licensed clinicians, ensuring safety and effectiveness as they evolve.

🔬 The Importance of Trust in Healthcare: Khosla stresses that in healthcare, trust is the most crucial factor, emphasizing the need for AI systems to be supervised and trusted by both patients and healthcare providers.

📱 AI in Mental Health Therapy: AI systems in mental health therapy, especially for marginalized communities, have shown success in providing more accessible and less judgmental care, with patients preferring AI to human therapists in some studies.

💜 What Needs to Stay Human: In a lively exchange with Esther Dyson, the conversation also turns to the human element of care, empathy, and what “real” health support should include beyond diagnosis.