Mark Cuban: Doctors Should Guide the Use of AI

Mark Cuban wants to give doctors an active role in the use of AI by patients while automating administrative tasks. The investor dismisses scenarios of replacing clinicians and warns of an "arms race" between caregivers and insurers. Meanwhile, Moderna and Merck announce phase 3 results for a personalized cancer vaccine, showcasing AI in the service of healthcare.

Moderna and Merck: AI in the Service of a Personalized Vaccine

On Wednesday, Moderna and Merck announced that their experimental individualized mRNA vaccine against melanoma, intismeran, had met major criteria in a phase 3 clinical trial. This protocol relies on genome sequencing and algorithms to identify the specific mutations of each patient's tumor, illustrating an application of artificial intelligence that supports medical care without replacing healthcare professionals. In this context, Mark Cuban believes that artificial intelligence could lead to an escalation between healthcare providers and insurance companies, with some doctors using agents to optimize treatments while large groups would employ solutions to "delay and deny." He also recommends that employers use chatbots to review their health coverage contracts, aiming to identify hidden costs and unfavorable clauses.

Cuban Wants Doctors to Guide Patients in Using AI

Mark Cuban asserts that doctors should help patients utilize AI tools, citing ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok. He suggests that private practice practitioners could sit down with patients to configure these models with personalized instructions, skills, and prompts. He specifies that the LLM could share its results with the doctor, who would then interact with both the patient and the patient's AI. For Cuban, the goal is to integrate AI into the care pathway under the supervision of the clinician.

Cuban Rejects the Replacement of Clinicians

Mark Cuban rejects predictions that doctors will be replaced by AI. He states that AI cannot replace the empathy, judgment, and real-time observation of a clinician, especially when a patient's condition changes suddenly. He illustrates this limitation with the ability of a doctor to initiate resuscitation upon observing a collapse and to communicate with a colleague familiar with the patient, while AI neither sees nor reasons in real time. Regarding medical imaging, he claims there is no chance that radiologists will be replaced, while predicting that every radiologist will use AI. He believes that models become obsolete as soon as they are published, that their use is more expensive than a radiologist, and that combining them with domain expertise is complex, with stakes that can be vital.

Automating Administrative Tasks and Bypassing Intermediaries

Mark Cuban states that AI will replace many tasks performed by doctors, not because machines will practice medicine autonomously, but because clinicians are bogged down by administrative tasks created by health conglomerates. He proposes replacing intermediaries with AI systems to lighten the administrative burden. This approach extends the initiatives he has previously undertaken. In 2022, he participated in the creation of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, an online pharmaceutical platform that focuses on price transparency and eliminating pharmacy benefit managers, aiming to challenge opaque pricing systems. The previous month, he had already issued warnings regarding the impact of AI in the healthcare field.