In our first Hot Topics episode of 2026, Dr Louise Schaper and Dr George Margelis unpack the biggest healthcare story of the moment: Big Tech’s decisive move into generative AI for health.

January alone saw major announcements from OpenAI, Anthropic and Amazon One Medical, signalling that healthcare is no longer a side experiment for AI companies — it’s a core vertical.

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Louise and George explore:

• What ChatGPT Health and Claude for Healthcare actually mean for consumers
• Why GenAI could become the default digital front door to healthcare
• How this shifts power, trust and expectations in the clinician–patient relationship
• The realities (and myths) around privacy, misinformation, regulation and safety
• What this moment means for healthcare business models, vendors and startups

This is a wide-ranging, honest and occasionally provocative discussion about where healthcare is heading — whether the system is ready or not.

🎧 Part 2 will dive into enterprise impacts, predictions, and a practical to-do list for health leaders

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Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric