The rapid proliferation of AI in our lives introduces new challenges around authorship, authenticity, and ethics in work and art. But it also offers a particularly human problem in narrative: How can we make sense of these machines, not just use them? And how do the words we choose and stories we tell about technology affect the role we allow it to take on (or even take over) in our creative lives? Both Vara's book and The Uncanny Muse, a collection of essays on the history of art and automation by the music critic David Hajdu, explore how humans have historically and personally wrestled with the ways in which machines relate to our own bodies, brains, and creativity. At the same time, The Mind Electric, a new book by a neurologist, Pria Anand, reminds us that our own inner workings may not be so easy to replicate.

The new essay collection "Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age," by Vauhini Vara, opens with a transcript. "If I paste some writing here, can we talk about it?" Her interlocutor, the large language model ChatGPT, responds, "Of course!" The chatbot asks what specific themes it should focus on. "Nothing in particular," Vara replies.

As was perhaps inevitable, ChatGPT--the free chatbot created by OpenAI that has been ruffling feathers ever since it was launched in November--has now spawned "a boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon," according to Greg Bensinger at Reuters. Bensinger counted over 200 e-books in Amazon's Kindle store that listed ChatGPT as author or co-author, which isn't counting the books that were created using the software without acknowledgement (an unknowable, perhaps infinite number). Would-be author Brett Schickler told Reuters that after he learned about ChatGPT--which can instantly generate cogent blocks of text from any prompt--he "figured an opportunity had landed in his lap." "The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible," he explained. "I thought'I can do this.'"

This is my new AI in Healthcare Highlights & Milestones Report for Summer 2022. This report includes an overview of advances made during the summer across the healthcare spectrum including important studies, regulatory clearances, fundraising, partnerships, and growth in the AI ecosystem worldwide. This summer scientists demonstrated how they successfully used AI in many areas including: to reduce sepsis deaths, to predict cardiac events, to detect breast cancer, to detect lung cancer, to detects osteoporosis, to detect Parkinson's, to monitor diabetic retinopathy, to detect heart disease, to detect bladder cancer, to enable pathology, to detect fractures, and to monitor Parkinson's using the Apple Watch. Radiologists More Accurate Detecting Breast Cancer with AI Than Without AI In July scientists in Germany published a large-scale study demonstrating that radiologists working with AI were more accurate detecting breast cancer than radiologists working without AI, and vice versa – the AI was more accurate when working with a radiologist than when working independently. The study was led by Vara, a German company, in collaboration with radiologists at the Essen University Hospital in Germany and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

For decades, scientists have been giddy and citizens have been fearful of the power of computers. In 1965 Herbert Simon, a Nobel laureate in economics and also a winner of the Turing Award (considered "The Nobel Prize of computing"), predicted that "machines will be capable, within 20 years, of doing any work a man can do." His misplaced faith in computers is hardly unique. Sixty-seven years later, we are still waiting for computers to become our slaves and masters. Businesses have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on AI moonshots that have crashed and burned. Watson" was supposed to revolutionize health care and "eradicate cancer."

The software being tested comes from Vara, a startup based in Germany that also led the study. The company's AI is already used in over a fourth of Germany's breast cancer screening centers and was introduced earlier this year to a hospital in Mexico and another in Greece. The Vara team, with help from radiologists at the Essen University Hospital in Germany and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, tested two approaches. In the first, the AI works alone to analyze mammograms. In the other, the AI automatically distinguishes between scans it thinks look normal and those that raise a concern.

The software being tested comes from Vara, a startup based in Germany that also led the study. The company's AI is already used in over a fourth of Germany's breast cancer screening centers and was introduced earlier this year to a hospital in Mexico and another in Greece. The Vara team, with help from radiologists at the Essen University Hospital in Germany and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, tested two approaches. In the first, the AI works alone to analyze mammograms. In the other, the AI automatically distinguishes between scans it thinks look normal and those that raise a concern.

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that during the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, 28 million American citizens didn't have health insurance at any point during the year. And although many Americans did have health insurance, it often does not cover everything individuals need like mental health services and follow-up breast cancer screenings, which aren't always covered. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) can step in to provide quality healthcare options at a lower cost. Companies like Vara and Paradromics are already working to increase access, affordability and ultimately healthcare outcomes -- and investors are paying close attention.

Several of 2022's most anticipated novels offer unique perspectives on society's thorniest issues, from racism to workplace harassment. Call it a summer fiction reading list for the socially engaged. Ms. Shibata is never officially assigned the menial tasks of her workplace--making coffee, tidying, answering the phones--but since she's the only woman on staff, her colleagues expect her to oversee them. Annoyed by the tedious sexism, Shibata announces that she is pregnant and unable to continue the extra work. We follow her fake pregnancy week by week, and though there is no child, something real grows within Shibata.

Meet Stefanie Schalitz, Vara's Technical Project Manager, whose customer-facing role bridges sales, software development, product management and operations to successfully and efficiently implement Vara on site. Originally from #Luckenwalde, Germany, Steffi has a strong IT background, particularly in systems integrations. She studied Business Informatics at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin (formerly Technische Fachhochschule Berlin), thereafter working for 6 years as a Systems Engineer and Network Engineer. In the last 3 years, when she wasn't riding her motorcycle, running or playing volleyball, Steffi gained experience in product as well as project management. She joined Vara because she believes in the Company's vision to pioneer #AI-driven #healthcare: "I strongly believe that AI can have a truly positive impact in healthcare and this will be just the beginning of a great journey; many more use cases will follow. Together with Vara, I want to make sure that more #breastcancer is found earlier to effectively save lives."