Gist Healthcare Podcast

AI in Healthcare: When imperfect tools meet real-world use

KauffmanPodcast
By J. Carlisle Larsen
16 min readMay 4, 2026
AI

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Artificial intelligence in healthcare is already being used in practice—but those tools aren’t perfect.

In the final part of a three-part series, host J. Carlisle Larsen continues her conversation with Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and author of A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future.

As these tools move into wider use, Wachter explains how their limitations show up in real-world settings—from questions about reliability to how they’re used by clinicians and patients.

The conversation examines what happens when imperfect systems are used in higher-stakes environments, and what that means for how AI is adopted going forward.

You can listen to Part 1 here. And Part 2 here.

 

Author

J Carlisle Larsen

J. Carlisle Larsen

Media Production Director

J. Carlisle Larsen (JC), is Media Production Director at Vizient. Her responsibilities include breaking down healthcare business and policy news.