AI In Healthcare Boost: Siemens Healthineers’ Robotics, Isomorphic Labs’ $600M Funding & More

In 10 years, AI (artificial intelligence) will replace many doctors and teachers, rendering humans unnecessary “for most things.”

Nope, this isn’t an April Fools’ Day prank we’re playing, it’s what Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in an interview with comedian Jimmy Fallon on NBC’s “The Tonight Show”—in February.

Gates pointed out that currently we rely on human specialists in many fields, including healthcare and teaching. However, “with AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace—great medical advice, great tutoring.”

The use of “free” stems from a previous interview Bill Gates had with Harvard University professor Arthur Brooks at Sanders Theatre when he returned to Harvard’s campus after dropping out in 1975. The meeting pertained to a discussion about Gates’s memoir—Source Code.

“What we’re doing now [in AI] is kind of an extension of the digital revolution—because it’s built on the chips and the internet, and all of those things are about free intelligence,” said Gates.

He compared the scaling constraints faced by early computing—hardware and software limitations—to those observed currently for AI—training data and interpretability. Gates believes these limitations will soon be overcome, leading to AI replacing humans altogether, unlike the first PCs that simply amplified human capabilities.

“Intelligence will be completely free,” said Gates, adding, “It’s very profound and even a little bit scary—because it’s happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound.”


While Bill Gates’ thoughts pertain to the future of AI and healthcare, what about the present situation?

According to CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen, “There are some well-validated examples of predictive AI being used to augment and improve diagnosis.”

Dr. Wen is an emergency physician, adjunct associate professor at George Washington University, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and former Commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department.

At the same time, Dr. Wen feels it’s important to understand the difference between predictive AI and GenAI or generative AI (generative artificial intelligence), especially when patients think about the different uses of AI in healthcare.

“Predictive AI uses mathematical models and pattern recognition to predict the future,” said Dr. Wen, adding, “An algorithm could come up with a care plan for you based on factors that could impact your illness, such as your age, gender, other medical conditions, laboratory data and racial and ethnic background.” These algorithms can help doctors decide what kind of care a patient requires based on their unique circumstances.

On the other hand, “Generative AI uses large language models to generate humanlike interactions” and “summarize huge quantities of information in a very short period of time,” said Dr. Wen, “Some studies have suggested that generative AI models can “learn” so much that they can pass medical licensing exams and that they can generate easy-to-understand, well-written patient instructions on a variety of topics.”

However, Dr. Wen reiterated one popular concern surrounding GenAI—hallucinations. As such, it’s crucial to understand how each tool has been trained and developed and in what circumstances they’re to be used.

When it comes to diagnosing patients, AI can help in identifying and flagging polyps during colonoscopies, reading mammograms to detect breast cancer, identifying hospitalized patients at high risk of developing sepsis, looking for signs of deterioration in hospitalized patients, and more.


Among the numerous companies that recognize AI’s game-changing role in healthcare is Siemens Healthineers, which is infusing AI with robotics to improve patient outcomes, enhance automation, and reduce costs with innovations developed, including affordable MRI and CT technologies.

This information comes according to Peter Schardt, CTO, Siemens Healthineers, who conveyed the information through an interview with The Financial Express’s Sudhir Chowdhary.

As a result, the MedTech leader is pouring in INR 1,300 crore, or over $150 million, to establish a new campus in India’s Bengaluru. The development center currently employs nearly 3,500 employees and is looking to add 700-900 new roles.

“AI and robotics are the key technologies to drive the level of automation, ultimately improving productivity,” said Schardt.

“Robots truly become robots when they become smart, can reason, and can make decisions. At Siemens Healthineers, this is where we are investing. Our annual R&D spend, totaling around €2 billion ($2,158,740,000), is directed towards advancing such technologies across our entire portfolio.”

“Robotics is now entering prime time in healthcare. AI is empowering robots to perform real, meaningful tasks,” Schardt added.

This investment comes on the heels of a recent partnership between Siemens Healthineers and Alberta Cancer Foundation, along with the Government of Alberta, which is investing around $555 million over eight years to improve cancer care, support early detection, reduce wait times and enhance cancer R&D. This will include an additional investment of over $121 million by Siemens Healthineers.

When it comes to investments for AI in healthcare, Isomorphic Labs, an AI-first drug design and development company, announced that it raised $600 million in its first external funding round. The round was led by Thrive Capital and witnessed participation from GV (Google Ventures) and existing investor Alphabet.

The company aims to use AI to innovate and accelerate drug discovery for patients globally while delivering biomedical breakthroughs. As such, it’s advancing drug design programs across multiple therapeutic areas and drug modalities. The investment will help accelerate its frontier AI research and development—rapidly advancing its next-generation AI drug design engine—while growing its team of world-class talent.

“We're excited to bring together a top-tier investor group with deep AI and life sciences expertise as we aim to transform this industry through an interdisciplinary approach,” said Isomorphic Labs founder and CEO, Sir Demis Hassabis.

“This funding will further turbocharge the development of our next-generation AI drug design engine, help us advance our own programs into clinical development, and is a significant step forward towards our mission of one day solving all disease with the help of AI.”


Dr. Krishna Yeshwant, Managing Partner at GV, said, “AI and machine learning have long held the promise of transforming drug discovery, yet few companies over the past decade have unlocked their full potential. After witnessing the extraordinary pace of innovation at Isomorphic Labs, we believe their pioneering approach will redefine AI-powered drug discovery.”

What do you think about the infusion of AI and robotics in healthcare?

Let us know in the comments below!