Microsoft Research Podcast

The AI Revolution in Medicine, Revisited: The reality of generative AI in the clinic

Mar 20, 2025

In a compelling discussion, Dr. Christopher Longhurst, Chief Clinical and Innovation Officer at UC San Diego Health, and Dr. Sara Murray, Chief Health AI Officer at UC San Francisco Health, dive into the transformative role of AI in medicine. They explore how generative AI is changing patient communication, enhancing clinician efficiency, and addressing documentation burdens. The conversation highlights ethical AI deployment, the integration of AI scribes, and the importance of human oversight in clinical settings, showcasing the exciting yet complex future of healthcare technology.

01:17:15

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Episode guests

Dr. Sara Murray

Dr. Christopher Longhurst

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Generative AI, specifically models like GPT-4, has the potential to significantly reduce healthcare workers' administrative burdens, allowing them to focus on patient care.

AI integration in clinical settings is transforming documentation processes, providing support in drafting responses and ensuring better patient-provider communication.

While generative AI enhances efficiency in healthcare, maintaining human oversight and transparency is crucial to foster trust and ensure quality patient care.

Deep dives

Rising Workload in Healthcare

The workload of healthcare workers in the United States has significantly increased over the past two decades, primarily due to the increasing burden of paperwork. This shift has transformed their day-to-day responsibilities, turning many healthcare professionals into clerical workers instead of focusing on patient care. The pressing need to alleviate this burden has led to the exploration of generative AI technology, like GPT-4, which holds potential for transforming how medical professionals manage their tasks. The conversation highlights how integrating AI can help reduce the inefficiencies associated with documentation, thereby allowing healthcare providers to refocus on direct patient interactions.

Intro

2min

AI's Transformative Role in Healthcare

16min

Transforming Patient Communication with AI

14min

Embracing AI in Healthcare

21min

Integrating AI Scribes in Healthcare

4min

Navigating AI Oversight in Healthcare

2min

Enhancing Clinician-Patient Interactions through Innovative Tools

3min

Navigating AI Integration in Healthcare

6min

AI in Clinical Practice: Transforming Healthcare

8min

Two years ago, OpenAI’s GPT-4 kick-started a new era in AI. In the months leading up to its public release, Peter Lee, president of Microsoft Research, cowrote a book full of optimism for the potential of advanced AI models to transform the world of healthcare. What has happened since? In this special podcast series—The AI Revolution in Medicine, Revisited—Lee revisits the book, exploring how patients, providers, and other medical professionals are experiencing and using generative AI today while examining what he and his coauthors got right—and what they didn’t foresee.

In this episode, Dr. Christopher Longhurst and Dr. Sara Murray, leading experts in healthcare AI implementation, join Lee to discuss the current state and future of AI in clinical settings. Longhurst, chief clinical and innovation officer at UC San Diego Health and executive director of the Jacobs Center for Health Innovation, details his healthcare system's collaboration with Epic and Microsoft to integrate GPT into their electronic health record system, offering clinicians support in responding to patient messages. Dr. Murray, chief health AI officer at UC San Francisco Health, discusses AI’s integration into clinical workflows, the promise and risks of AI-driven decision-making, and how generative AI is reshaping patient care and physician workload.

Learn more:

Large Language Models for More Efficient Reporting of Hospital Quality Measures

Generative artificial intelligence responses to patient messages in the electronic health record: early lessons learned

The Chief Health AI Officer — An Emerging Role for an Emerging Technology

AI-Generated Draft Replies Integrated Into Health Records and Physicians' Electronic Communication

Comparing Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Patient Questions Posted to a Public Social Media Forum

The AI Revolution in Medicine: GPT-4 and Beyond