All great stories have complicated endings. But that doesn’t mean they can’t offer simple and instructive lessons. Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus, “Oppenheimer,” highlights the tragic story about the “father of the atomic bomb.” But it’s also a story about how the United States missed an opportunity to be a global leader in the development of an innovation that would define the 20th century. This century will be defined by transformational technologies — especially artificial intelligence — and J. Robert Oppenheimer’s story offers particularly salient lessons for health care leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers.
Oppenheimer’s era was defined by the nuclear power race, while ours is being defined by the competition in artificial intelligence technology. Both technologies are powerful tools that will change the trajectory of humanity. In another disconcerting similarity with Oppenheimer’s era, political actors who frame national policies around innovation seem disengaged with or are politicizing the nuances of science. This politicking has made it increasingly difficult to have constructive conversations about the future of health care innovation. We already see this happening with the misinformation around mRNA technology and the ongoing harassment of scientists.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen health care companies are already using ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI, for a variety of functions. But we do not fully understand the consequences of integrating these large language models into health functions. Surprisingly, many of the ongoing conversations on AI policymaking and regulation have focused on technology industry leaders, and have not fully utilized the expertise of leaders from the health care industry, who have unique insights on the application of AI on health and medicine. This reminded me of a powerful scene in the movie “Oppenheimer” in which the titular scientist tries to persuade President Truman about the dangers of the nuclear power, only to have his concerns dismissed.
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