Don’t judge DeepSeek on the innovativeness of its programming. Judge it on the degree to which it shakes up the economics of the AI market.

Medical students are broadly familiar with digital health technologies. Relatedly, they believe AI will play a crucial role in the future of healthcare. These are good signs for the advancement of evidence-based medicine. 

Last week’s blastoff of the Chinese AI company DeepSeek struck many like a cold bucket of water in the face.

Wasn’t radiology the fastest medical specialty to embrace and adopt AI? And yet burnout continues to afflict many if not most radiologists. 

This is the week of DeepSeek. 

Generative AI has a bright future in medical education. That goes not only for medical schools but also for postgraduate settings in which residents and fellows do most of their learning while also caring for patients.

When Larry Ellison talks about healthcare AI, people invest. At least, that’s what happened after the Oracle chairman enthused over AI’s potential to cook up vaccines for cancer. 

Given the precarious excitement of the moment—or is it exciting precarity?—policymakers and healthcare leaders must set directives guiding not only what to do with AI but also when to do it.