00:00If you retrofit AI into an inefficient system, it just makes you very efficient at being inefficient.
00:06That's why Karba Baptista Leita believes the healthcare systems need to be rethought,
00:11shifting the focus from treating illnesses to preventing them.
00:14We need to move from the disease-driven model of today
00:17towards health systems that focus more on prevention and improving quality of life.
00:21Here in Europe, that is particularly relevant because of an aging population.
00:25And so AI presents that opportunity for us to rethink,
00:31to reimagine how health and care can be delivered all together
00:35instead of just retrofitting AI into our current systems because many of them are not efficient.
00:41But shifting from treating illnesses to preventing them
00:43means rethinking how healthcare system is organized and how it is funded.
00:48We need the incentives also to shift from disease towards focusing on prevention.
00:55The truth is, most hospitals get money if they treat more and more patients,
01:00but if they ensure that people don't get sick, they don't have a financial benefit.
01:04So you need to flip that around.
01:06So what could a more preventative healthcare system look like in practice?
01:10The goal is not to save someone after they've had a heart attack.
01:15Of course, that's what health systems do, but it's actually to avoid the heart attack altogether.
01:19Rather than waiting for people to become ill and seek treatment,
01:22artificial intelligence could help identify those at risk earlier
01:26and connect them with the support they need before a condition develops or worsens.
01:30What we want is a future in which you actually lower the burden of disease,
01:35which means you keep people healthier longer.
01:38But identifying risks and offering earlier interventions thanks to AI
01:42will only work if people trust the technology
01:45and if healthcare professionals have confidence in using it.
01:48We're not saying that there's not going to be risks.
01:50With every technology, including a simple pill of paracetamol, there are risks.
01:56We know that.
01:57But we also have in place mechanisms to make sure that we measure risk versus benefits.
02:03And we make sure that the benefits clearly outweigh the risks
02:07so that at a societal level we can use these technologies in a way that is trusted.
02:11That requires a different approach to regulation,
02:14one that continues to monitor technologies after they enter the healthcare system,
02:18identifying potential problems as they emerge.
02:21When we talk about pharmaceutical products,
02:23typically you have a process in which a pharmaceutical company goes to the regulator,
02:27they get approved, and they have access to the market.
02:30With AI, that's not enough.
02:33Especially with high-risk AI, you need a process where you continue monitoring
02:37the way the technology is evolving within the health system.
