Becker's Hospital Review

52 CIO / HEALTH IT Elon Musk suggests he's only months from 'merging' the human brain with AI By Jessica Kim Cohen E lon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is only months away from revealing a product developed by his neurotechnology company Neuralink, accord- ing to claims he made during a Sept. 6 interview on "The Joe Rogan Experience." Neuralink, founded in 2016 and headquartered in San Francisco, is developing brain-computer inter- faces. These interfaces could augment a user's intel- ligence by connecting their brain to an artificial intel- ligence extension of oneself, according to Mr. Musk. "The purpose of Neuralink [is] to create a high-band- width interface to the brain such that we can be symbiotic with AI," Mr. Musk said on stand-up come- dian Mr. Rogan's podcast. "How much smarter are you with a phone or computer than without? You're vastly smarter, actually. You can answer any question pretty much instantly." "I think we'll have something interesting to an- nounce in a few months that's at least an order of magnitude better than anything else — probably than anyone thinks is possible," he continued. Mr. Musk suggested augmenting one's brain with AI posed a brighter future than the alternative — being replaced by AI. "You're currently in a symbiotic relationship with your cortex and limbic system," he said, explaining his vision for Neuralink. "Best-case scenario, we ef- fectively merge with AI, where AI serves as a tertiary cognition layer. It will enable anyone who wants to have superhuman cognition." Mr. Musk has been vocal about his concerns regard- ing AI in recent years, a view which Mr. Rogan de- scribed as "fatalistic" during the podcast. In August 2017, Mr. Musk made headlines after he posted a series of tweets arguing AI posed "vastly more risk than North Korea." Earlier in 2017, he sug- gested the technology would result in job losses as robots "will be able to do everything better than us." "I tried to convince people to slow down AI, to reg- ulate AI, but this was futile. I tried for years. Nobody listened," he told Mr. Rogan on the podcast. "Nor- mally the way regulations work is very slow. This time frame is not relevant to AI. You can't take 10 years from the point at which it's dangerous." "The merge scenario with AI is the one that seems like probably the best," he added. "If you can't beat it, join it." n Crucial skills for aspiring CMIOs: Q&A with UCHealth's CMIO Dr. C.T. Lin By Jackie Drees C .T. Lin, MD, chief medical information officer at University of Colo- rado Health in Aurora, explains how he helped develop UCHealth's CMIO role and why fostering human connections is a crucial part of his responsibility. Editor's note: Responses are lightly edited for clarity and length. Question: How did you become a CMIO? What is your background? Dr. CT Lin: I became a CMIO by being the "chief complainer" in 1998. I had written a seven-page detailed critique of the lousy computer sys- tems in place at University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora at that time, and a week later was invited by the CIO to meet and discuss a possible "physician liaison role with IT." I was offered a 0.1 [full time equiva- lent] position, and they told me it was because 'really, beyond a couple meetings a week, we don't see much need for your help. All we need you to do is to explain to the physicians all the great things we are already doing for them.' One of my mentors explained to me that this 0.1 FTE was my 'nose of the camel' — one of those opportunities to insert myself into healthcare IT operations in a time when physician input was not really considered. Over time, I was able to grow this role into 85 percent of my job, and to have a team of 30 physician informaticists working with me to improve the EHR and intelligent flow of information throughout our organization. I was trained in general internal medicine and came into this job in 1997, more than 20 years ago, and grew into the role even before there was such a thing as a CMIO, so I've helped develop what a CMIO is at our organization. Q: What advice do you have for aspiring CMIOs? CL: First, seek to be useful before seeking recognition. Oen, we identify future physician leaders by their contribution to important projects with- in our clinics, hospitals and health system. It turns out that knowledge of computers and IT systems is nice, but the crucial skill is developing human connections with outstanding communication skills and the ability to col- laborate and create consensus. Q: What is the vision for your team in 2019? How will you approach your role and meeting your goals? CL: All of our projects, efforts and philosophies derive from the princi- ple of communication and collaboration. We find that communication and collaboration are always prerequisites to effective interventions, whether [or not] they include IT tools. We also spend time reading books together to develop our leadership skills and our broader per- spective beyond just EHR burden, physician burnout, innovation proj- ects and analytics projects. We developed an internal vision for our physician informatics group: 'We improve physician and team wellness and effectiveness by building extraor- dinary relationships and innovative tools.' n

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