Category: News items
News that is interesting to me, and possibly to you
A.I. Is Mastering Language. Should We Trust What It Says? (nytimes)
GPT-3 can write text that astounds, based on its Large Language Model. Things are happening, people. Are we paying attention? #hcldr #hitsm #whyinformatics
I’m always on the looking for developments in computing outside of healthcare. This is a longer read, but so thought provoking:
- What is a Large Language Model and why is it only recently important?
- What is GPT-3 and what are all these magical things it supposedly does?
- Can GPT-3 digest 1000 progress notes of a patient chart, say, and write a cogent 1-page summary for a clinician to digest rapidly? I’d pay for THAT.
‘‘The underlying idea of GPT-3 is a way of linking an intuitive notion of understanding to something that can be measured and understood mechanistically,’’ he finally said, ‘‘and that is the task of predicting the next word in text.’’
Prompt the algorithm with a sentence like ‘‘The writer has omitted the very last word of the first . . . ’’ and the guesses will be a kind of stream of nonsense: ‘‘satellite,’’ ‘‘puppy,’’ ‘‘Seattle,’’ ‘‘therefore.’’ But somewhere down the list — perhaps thousands of words down the list — the correct missing word appears: ‘‘paragraph.’’ The software then strengthens whatever random neural connections generated that particular suggestion and weakens all the connections that generated incorrect guesses. And then it moves on to the next prompt. Over time, with enough iterations, the software learns.
Ilya Sutskever
There is all this discussion of “is this a sophisticated parrot” or “truly an artificial intelligence capable of generating new ideas.” Well, in our Electronic Health Record world, just the first item would be transformative, if we can get an AI to digest a hyperobject large set of data into an executive brief. Just that.
CMIO’s take? This is an important article by Steven Johnson in the New York Times Magazine. Watch this space; the development of GPT-3 heralds a qualitative improvement in AI language models; so much so that we feel compelled to teach it values and culture lest it start spewing hatred it learns on the internet. This is a worthwhile long read.
Virtual Reality: reliving the past for seniors? (nytimes)
Interesting that one of our innovation partners, Rendever, has developed a way for family members to record and annotate video to be viewed by seniors, so that they can see their hometown, where they grew up, where they worked, to reawaken pleasant memories of times past. An interesting, unanticipated way of using virtual reality.
Sag A*: here’s a photo of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way (NYtimes, NASA)
We live in astounding times. Read the article and more importantly, see and hear the excitement of the scientists giving the press conference. So proud to be human right now!
HIMSStv: video interview about innovation and RxRevu, real-time benefits at UCHealth
We talk about EHR optimization, clinician burnout, real-time prescription cost data
Clinical Informatics Leadership Bootcamp, CHIME, Salt Lake, May 2022 (I’m teaching!)
What will CT Lin be teaching at the next Informatics Leadership Bootcamp? And, will there be ukulele?
Our discussion and workshop agenda includes:
Clinical Informatics Success Factors
1. Shaping Transformational Strategy: Role of Innovation
2. Leading Change in Dynamic Times: Monitor and Influence the Dynamics of Adaptive Change
3. Driving Consumerism & Patient Engagement: Ensure Continuous Customer Satisfaction
4. Achieving Organizational Value: Demonstrate Clinical Informatics Business Value
5. Developing High Performance Teams: Orchestrate a High Performing Organization
6. Building Networks and Community: Cultivate Collaboration for Mutual Benefit
Come join us, or forward to a colleague!
Controlled breathing. Take a minute (nytimes)
I know many patients, colleagues, (and also I, myself) can benefit from this reminder.
Take a minute and do this now.
And maybe STOP DOOMSCROLLING and go outside (I’m going to shovel some snow), or read a physical book, or at least move away from a screen for awhile.
Productivity, Time, Attention (Adam Grant is a genius. NYTimes)
I’ll just leave this here. Gotta get back to work.
Information Transparency with patients (Open Notes, Financial estimates) @UCHealth (EpicShare news)
“…at the end of the year, you will know exactly how bad an idea this was”
-physician naysayer
Thanks to Epic for writing about us! This briefly encapsulates our information transparency journey at UCHealth over the past couple decades, including our clinical and financial projects to show more to our patients, and the leadership lessons we learned on the way. Happy new year!
Greg LeMond and the Amazing Candy-Colored Dream Bike (wired)
From wired.com
https://www.wired.com/story/greg-lemond-amazing-candy-colored-dream-bike/
I idolized Greg Lemond, the only US champion of the Tour de France, growing up. I even got his autograph at a bike shop in Colorado a few years ago. Star-struck, I surprised myself by having no words other than a stupid grin and “thanks!”
Greg is still kicking and looking to revitalize carbon fiber and re-invent e-bikes into something that recreates the pure joy and freedom of cycling when you were young.