Second Opinion: How AI Could Improve Patient Outcomes

A decade after IBM Watson's smarter healthcare revolution fizzled out, a new wave of AI systems—powered by large language models, multimodal learning, and surgical robotics—is quietly reshaping how care is diagnosed, delivered, and optimized. From AI-assisted stroke detection and LLM-powered patient triage to precision-guided surgical robotics and digital health platforms, hospitals and medtech companies are deploying these tools in real-world settings. But as machines take on more cognitive and procedural load, critical questions loom: How accurate are these systems? Who is accountable when things go wrong? And can medicine preserve its human touch in an algorithmic age?