EP451: Hey, Let's Not Talk About Artificial Intelligence, With Spencer Dorn, MD, MPH, MHA

In Episode 451 of Relentless Health Value, host Stacey Richter converses with Dr. Spencer Dorn about the implications of AI in healthcare, referencing lessons learned from EHR implementations. They discuss Kranzberg's first law of technology, which advises against labeling a technology as inherently good, bad, or neutral, emphasizing instead the importance of its application, configuration, and the human decisions surrounding its use. Dorn and Richter explore both the potential benefits and drawbacks of AI, drawing parallels with past experiences in healthcare digitization — including lessons from the earlier show about EHRs (episode 446).

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Kranzberg's First Law of Technology, and why it's the wrong move to label any technology — including AI — as inherently good, bad, or neutral

✅ What lessons from digitizing healthcare (EHR implementation) actually transfer to how we should think about deploying AI

✅ Why the ultimate impact of a technology depends on the people, processes, and configuration around it, not the technology itself

✅ How AI could make things better and worse simultaneously, and why that duality isn't a contradiction

✅ Why it's important to look past both the hype and the pessimism to make a clear-eyed assessment of AI in healthcare

WHY THIS MATTERS

The first takeaway is the same as it was for EHRs: don't ascribe any given technology a label of good, bad, or even neutral. That's Kranzberg's First Law of Technology, and it applies just as much to AI. The second: the ultimate impact will never be a black-and-white binary — it depends entirely on the people and processes surrounding the technology, not the technology itself.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

🔗 Healthcare Industry Acronyms and Terms

✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter

🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar

📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel

🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts

🎤 Listen on Spotify

=== CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM ===

✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ Bluesky ✭ X

00:00 Introduction.

05:23 What could happen with AI in healthcare if we aren't thinking about how we're deploying it?

05:58 How could the lessons from digitizing healthcare help us with employing AI?

08:25 How could artificial intelligence make things better and simultaneously worse?

10:55 Why is it important to look beyond the hype and pessimism and make a clear-eyed assessment?