A licence to commit fraud
Aditya Chakrabortty
The Guardian
Sam Bankman-Fried has been declared one of America’s biggest swindlers, says Aditya Chakrabortty. But the “same groups who today come to bury the boy billionaire yesterday praised him without qualification”. US politicians Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Cory Booker, Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi accepted substantial sums from him; celebrities such as Larry David, Gisele Bündchen and Naomi Osaka were paid to endorse his trading exchange, FTX. Tony Blair and Bill Clinton attended his conference, and he dined with Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio. Despite his wealthy lifestyle, Bankman-Fried portrayed himself as an eccentric genius with humble habits as he graced the covers of business magazines and appeared on television. His philosophy, dubbed “effective altruism”, was found to be a dud as he donated less to charity than he spent on naming rights for a basketball arena. Ultimately, Bankman-Fried’s disgrace reflects the failings of a larger financial and political establishment that eagerly embraced him as a potential saviour. “Financial crimes aren’t purveyed only by evil masterminds. They are licensed by entire societies who believe in them – until they don’t.”
Integrating AI into healthcare
Editorial
The Economist
Artificial intelligence (AI) could transform healthcare, says The Economist. It should improve diagnoses, provide personalised support, accelerate the discovery of drugs and streamline administration. Deploying AI is expected to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year and shave up to $360bn from the $4.5trn the US spends annually on medical care. But integration of AI into healthcare has been hampered by strictly controlled and highly fragmented data, as well as inadequate regulation. To improve accuracy and reduce bias, AI tools need to be trained on diverse patient datasets, which need health data to move freely. Patients should also have access to their medical records to better understand and take responsibility for their own health. Regulating healthcare AI poses challenges as governance struggles to keep up with rapid innovation. Countries need to work together to establish global standards and equip regulators with the expertise to evaluate new AI tools. Governments and authorities must fund testing and deploy new AI technologies to combine better treatment with efficiency. If “AI can be made to work in medicine, it could provide a prescription for the adoption of the technology in other fields”.
