Freakonomics Radio
For 50 years, the healthcare industry has been trying (and failing) to harness the power of artificial intelligence. It may finally be ready for prime time. What will this mean for human doctors — and the rest of us? (Part four of “The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better.”)
- SOURCES:
- Bob Wachter, professor, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
- Pierre Elias, cardiologist, assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Columbia University, medical director for artificial intelligence at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
- RESOURCES:
- A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future, by Bob Wachter (2026).
- “Epic Systems (MyChart),” by Acquired (2025).
- “Detecting structural heart disease from electrocardiograms using AI,” by Pierre Elias and Timothy Poterucha (Nature, 2025).
- “What Are the Risks of Sharing Medical Records With ChatGPT?” by Maggie Astor (New York Times, 2025).
- “Will Generative Artificial Intelligence Deliver on Its Promise in Health Care?” by Bob Wachter and Erik Brynjolfsson (JAMA, 2023).
- The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age, by Bob Wachter (2015).
- EXTRAS:
- “The Doctor Won’t See You Now,” by Freakonomics Radio (2025).
- “How to Stop Worrying and Love the Robot Apocalypse (Update),” by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
585. A Social Activist in Prime Minister’s Clothing
Justin Trudeau, facing record-low approval numbers, is doubling down on his progressive agenda. But he is so upbeat (and Canada-polite) that it’s easy to miss just how radical his vision is. Can he make it…
584. How to Pave the Road to Hell
So you want to help people? That’s great — but beware the law of unintended consequences. Three stories from the modern workplace. SOURCES: Joshua Angrist, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.…
Extra: The Men Who Started a Thinking Revolution (Update)
The psychologist Daniel Kahneman — a Nobel laureate and the author of Thinking, Fast and Slow — recently died at age 90. Along with his collaborator Amos Tversky, he changed how we all think about decision-making.…
Why Are There So Many Bad Bosses? (Update)
People who are good at their jobs routinely get promoted into bigger jobs they’re bad at. We explain why firms keep producing incompetent managers — and why that’s unlikely to change. SOURCES: Nick Bloom, professor…
583. Are We Living Through the Most Revolutionary Period in History?
Fareed Zakaria says yes. But it’s not just political revolution — it’s economic, technological, even emotional. He doesn’t offer easy solutions but he does offer some hope. SOURCES: Fareed Zakaria, journalist and author. …
Extra: How Much Do You Know About Immigration?
The political debates over immigration can generate a lot of fuzzy facts. We wanted to test Americans’ knowledge — so, to wrap up our special series on immigration, we called some Freakonomics Radio listeners and…
582. Why Is Everyone Moving to Canada?
As the U.S. tries to fix its messy immigration system, our neighbor to the north is scooping up more talented newcomers every year. Are the Canadians stealing America’s bacon? (Part three of a three-part series.)…
581. What Both Parties Get Wrong About Immigration
The U.S. immigration system is a massively complicated machine, with a lot of worn-out parts. How to fix it? Step one: Get hold of some actual facts and evidence. (We did this step for you.)…
Extra: Madeleine Albright’s Warning on Immigration
She arrived in the U.S. as an 11-year-old refugee, then rose to become Secretary of State. Her views on immigration, nationalism, and borders, from this 2015 interview, are almost strangely appropriate to the present moment. …
580. The True Story of America’s Supremely Messed-Up Immigration System
How did a nation of immigrants come to hate immigration? We start at the beginning, sort through the evidence, and explain why your grandfather was lying about Ellis Island. (Part one of a three-part series.)…