Freakonomics Radio 661. Can A.I. Save Your Life?
379 snips
Jan 30, 2026 
Pierre Elias, cardiologist and AI medical director, and Bob Wachter, UCSF medicine chair and author, discuss how AI is being integrated into healthcare. They explore AI screening with ECGs, ambient AI scribes that reduce clinician burden, EHR dominance and data challenges, regulation and platform battles, and risks like de-skilling and governance.
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Chart Error That Became A Lifetime Diagnosis
- Wachter found a 20-year-old 'pulmonary embolism' entry that was actually 'physical exam,' which then stuck to the patient's problem list.
- That chart error could have harmed treatment decisions if he hadn't caught it.
A Missed Valve Disease That Inspired Screening
- Pierre Elias told of a man missed by EDs who later died from severe valvular disease before transfer.
- That case motivated building AI screening to detect undiagnosed structural heart disease earlier.
AI Sees What Doctors Were Taught Wasn't There
- Deep learning found signals in ECGs that humans were taught were impossible to detect.
- AI outperformed cardiologists at predicting structural heart disease from ECGs.
