Mark

I’m kind of new to this whole oxytocin thing. I was taking a walk in the hills trying to escape the algorithms of youth. I was listening to a podcast by Christine Runyon, a psychologist in the family practice department at the University of Massachusetts. She talked about fight, flight, and added freeze. She talked about the parasympathetic system and mentioned oxytocin. I had heard obliquely of oxytocin, but that became a prominent part of the podcast. So, I’m kind of a neophyte.

The next thing, I reflect on these matters as a songwriter. The AI question is very prominent. AI is really poo-pooed by people who want to write truly meaningful songs. However, AI has found its niche already in video games. When you’re talking about sheer volume—Scale—then AI becomes very important. However, while AI is frequently used, the people who want to write like Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan, totally eschew AI. I’ll just leave it at that.

Scott

That becomes a receding pocket of humanity, of artistic expression and ability. That pocket still provides a sacred difference. But it is receding. This pocket will continue to recede as long as we’re building AI tools around the idea of how I can automate, how I can replicate, how I can scale, how I can make things easier, faster and better for me and my shareholders or my administrator. The person engaged in the creation of AI tools is then creating a path towards automation. What they do is being automated and their value is being automated. However, we can consider doing something that we couldn’t ever do before. We can envision how to do things that are completely novel.  Here is a lazy example, around which we can readily wrap our heads. When I was doing a clinical intake, it was mostly focused on mental health. For many of you, it has been more focused on healthcare. In doing that intake, I might ask: how can I automate session notes, so I don’t have to fill out notes in the EHR 40 times? Okay, that’s neat automation, but that’s not changing anything. That’s not making new things possible. If we could instead ask what if every time I’m walking into a client session or a patient session, AI provides me with a quick reminder: here’s the three things from the last time you talked to them. This is their profile. Here’s a subjective understanding of this person. Here’s where their real needs are right now, based on the intake from your nurse or your physician assistant. These are their needs, So, you can practice better medicine.

You can practice better care because you’re treating what they really need instead of what is the average set of needs for a person in this situation. You can actually do more focused helping, not just healthcare. You can actually care. You can understand what it is like for this individual person. And Jack, I’m with you on that. That’s the fun part of the job. Understanding is great. So, if there’s a little birdie on your shoulder that’s whispering an additional stream of information that’s designed to help you be you. It’s designed to help you, not replace you. It is designed to improve your ability to audience, understand, empathize, and connect with this person. That’s what we offer. So, it’s an Iron Man suit. You get this Iron Man suit—but you’re still Robert Downey Jr. in there. You’re still a human being with your stuff, but now all of a sudden you have extra abilities so you can be even more effective.