Freenome's Gabriel Otte: AI In Healthcare Will Save Lives

AI, applied properly in healthcare, will save lives, said Freenome's CEO Gabriel Otte. Freenome, an AI 100 startup working on cancer diagnostics, is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Data Collective, and Founders Fund. The healthcare AI category has been heating up, with around 50 new companies raising their first equity after January 2015. During the panel discussion on AI's Transformation of Healthcare at the Innovation Summit, Otte stressed the importance of taking healthcare AI "step by step" to minimize risk to patients' lives. "I think we should also keep in mind that all diagnostics is subjective today. It's up to the doctor [to make the final decision]… The concept of having an AI make that decision is still many, many years away," Otte said, dismissing the dystopian notion of "machines killing people."