In the first episode of our interview series "The Challenge" we interviewed Otto Bitterli, director of the board of Helvetic Care AG and member of the board of several health institutions.
Vector8 (V8): Could you please provide a brief description of who you are, your current role, the company you work for, and the industry you are a part of?
Otto Bitterli (OB): My name is Otto Bitterli, and I am the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Helvetic Care AG. Helveticcare.ch (www.helveticcare.ch) is a digital platform for self-determined life in old age. It addresses cross-industry issues that concern aging people. We also offer solutions (services) and direct interested individuals to our partners.
Additionally, I am the owner of bi-digital GmbH, a sole proprietorship providing consulting services in the healthcare and insurance sectors. This is an offshoot of my previous role as CEO at Sanitas. Board mandates with smaller companies in the healthcare and insurance sectors round off my activities.
V8: How do you envision artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping the landscape of your industry in the coming years, and what opportunities do you believe it presents for businesses and professionals?
OB: AI is growing and becoming more powerful every day. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before human intelligence can be captured in all its facets. In healthcare, for example, there is great potential: from supporting the elderly (robots) to diagnostic and therapeutic support in medicine to decisions that AI can make in place of physicians in the future. When looking at telemedicine, an individual decision still has to be made and taken responsibility for by a doctor today. In the future, much more will be possible, which, however, requires usable data and corresponding safety (approvals).
In my opinion, people are rightly sceptical about the use of data and automated decision-making
Otto Bitterli about the challenges and ethical considerations
V8: Can you provide examples of how AI technologies have already transformed processes or operations within your organization or industry, and what outcomes have been achieved?
OB: There are already many examples that mainly support efficiency in processes. For instance, on our platform, AI can generate images that optimally appeal to users.
Phenomenal progress has been made in language translation solutions. Over the past few years, incredible advancements have been achieved, massively facilitating communication across language barriers.
Something "more substantial" as example is occurring in healthcare with the "reading and interpreting of radiological images" by AI. This form of support is beneficial to medicine. Given the shortage of skilled workers, this is likely to be an important aspect in the future.
V8: As AI continues to evolve, what ethical considerations or challenges do you believe are most pertinent to your industry, and how do you propose addressing them?
OB: The discovery of substantial new technological possibilities has always led to errors and problems. People, in my opinion, are rightly skeptical regarding the use of data and automated decision-making. However, new technologies have always been adopted when they provided added value to consumers.
The danger of "political misuse" is enormous, especially in the current times. We must ensure that democracies are not undermined and occupied by dictatorial powers based on AI. Finding solutions to this problem is challenging.
V8: Looking ahead at the transformative path, what single challenge would you like our experts to address for you, and what specific question would you like them to answer inour next episode?
OB: How can we make people understand that decisions based on AI are better than all those they have made so far? How can we then get people to embrace the further use of AI?
V8: Thank you very much for your time, Otto. We'll give our best to address your challenge in our next episode!
This interview was conducted in German and translated to English
The Challenge is designed as a series of interviews (Episodes) featuring industry and thought leaders. Each interview aims to be concise, easy to read, and limited to five standard questions. The final question provides the interviewee with the opportunity to ask one specific question about their most important challenges. Subsequent episodes will begin with qualified, valuable, and well-researched answers from our team, serving as a form of almost free consulting to demonstrate our expertise.
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