Sheba first outside US to deploy platform

Israel’s Sheba Medical Centre has become the first hospital outside the United States to deploy OpenAI’s enterprise healthcare platform.

The head of the Australian Friends of Sheba Medical Centre (AFSMC) says the deal could bring the technology to Australian hospitals.

Under the agreement announced on July 28, clinicians across Sheba’s network will get secure access to ChatGPT for Healthcare, which synthesises millions of peer-reviewed papers, clinical guidelines and public health sources.

Every answer carries citations, journal references and publication dates so doctors can check the evidence behind it.

AFSMC chief executive Idan Goldberger told The AJN that healthcare had been among the last sectors to adopt AI, and for good reason.

“It’s highly regulated and there are a lot of safety checks we want,” he said.

“While the end users use AI like ChatGPT and Gemini and Claude to get their medical advice, it’s not really something that hospitals can do.”

Goldberger said AI has some advantages over human doctors.

The technology does not tire or lose concentration, he said, and can read in minutes what would take a clinician weeks.

“The trick today is to convert information into knowledge. There’s no shortage of information, but the knowledge is what we really look for.”

The deployment will be led by the AI Centre at ARC, Sheba’s innovation arm, which has already introduced AI to the hospital’s emergency department, its imaging and its predictive analytics.

Asked whether clinicians feared being replaced, Goldberger said the profession would sort itself into two groups.

“AI will not replace doctors, but doctors who use AI will replace doctors who don’t use AI.”

He said patients were already pressing the change.

“They are going to the doctor and saying I’ve spoken with ChatGPT and here is what he told me I need to do. They already feel the pressure.”

Sheba already has collaborations with Monash Health, St Vincent’s, the Royal Children’s in Melbourne, the Children’s in Sydney and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Asked whether Australians could be diagnosed using Israeli-tested technology in the near future, Goldberger said, “Absolutely. That is the goal.”

He also addressed campaigns to boycott Israeli technology, which he acknowledged exist here.

“Let’s use medical innovation as a bridge for peace, and let’s not make it a casualty of international politics. We are healthcare professionals, so let’s be healthcare professionals.

“I can’t convince those who do not want to do anything with Jews or anything with Israel,” he said.

“But those who say let’s boycott Israel and that will create peace, I would say let’s create peace by building that bridge.”

Sheba treats patients from across the region, including Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Goldberger said Arab patients make up about 40 per cent of admissions to its children’s hospital, and Palestinians about 20 per cent.

“The best way to bring peace to the Middle East is by treating patients, treating kids. That is a beautiful place to start if we really want to advocate for peace.”