Google Cloud and Mayo Clinic are Partnering to Expand Generative AI Into Healthcare

Last week, it was announced that Google Cloud was partnering with Mayo Clinic to expand generative AI into the healthcare space. In the blog, the pair is testing a new service called Enterprise Search on Generative AI App Builder.

The tool allows users to create their own chatbots using Google’s technology so that they can retrieve internal data of all kinds. What this means for patients, is that healthcare workers will be able to interpret a wide variety of data faster using a simple query.

Some of the data included is medical history, labs, genomics, and imaging records to name a few. What makes this partnership unique is that the app will allow for the access of information across locations and formats.

Since the Mayo Clinic operates multiple clinics across the country, and is considered to be one of the top hospital systems on Earth, it makes it a prime candidate to test the technology. The app will be tested in the coming months with multiple test cases. Chief Technology Officer at May Clinic, Vish Anantraman, said of the program that it is already been “very fulfilling.”

Anantraman’s comments point to how the app has already been able to help clinicians with administrative work which often is the cause of both burnout amount workers and errors. While speaking with CNBC, Anantraman said, “It’s going to save a lot of time, it’s going to prevent physician burnout, it’s going to reduce administrative overload.”

As many in the healthcare field know full well, there is a lot of information. But at issue is how the information is stored, its location, and how it can be accessed when needed. And this app’s purpose to reduce the lag associated with how data is stored in healthcare.

Already, AI has been making big news in healthcare as generative AI, machine learning, and other tools have been used in a multitude of treatments and diagnostic trials. In one case, machine learning models are being used to attempt to find cases of mental illness and Parkinson’s disease; both of which often aren’t diagnosed until severe symptoms are displayed.

As for this Gen App Builder, Google stated that it will be aligned with their AI Principles to ensure that generated results don’t include bias, toxic content, and other unhelpful content.