Is artificial intelligence an existential threat to humanity? Or is the greater danger what humans choose to do with it?

In this special episode of Pulse, Louise and George are joined by Professor Enrico Coiera, Dr Guy Tsafnat, and Lucy Orr-Ewing of the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) for a provocative discussion about AI safety, superintelligence and the future of healthcare.

From rogue AI and malicious actors to systemic failures and the growing power of technology giants, the panel explores what could go wrong - and whether we're building the safeguards needed to prevent it.

They debate whether regulation can keep pace with AI, whether human-in-the-loop oversight is becoming theatre, and what healthcare leaders should be doing now to ensure AI delivers benefits without compromising patient safety.

The central question: Will AI be our greatest threat, or will human decisions be our undoing?

Resources:

Don’t Walk. Run. AI in Healthcare – The 3rd National Policy Roadmap (Australian Alliance for AI in Healthcare)

CHAI AI Governance Playbooks

From principles to practice: an actionable framework for AI governance in healthcare organisations, BMJ

The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian

Follow our guests on LinkedIn: Enrico, Lucy, Guy

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This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George ask who gets to deliver healthcare, as AI agents, a dating app, Apple and online platforms all push into territory that once belonged to clinicians and health services.

Agentic AI moves into healthcare — Heidi's new agents can now complete referrals, recalls and follow-ups across EHRs, inboxes and patient portals, joining Epic, Oracle and ARPA-H in a shift from AI that advises to AI that acts. George draws on James Reason's Swiss cheese model and Goodhart's Law to ask who is accountable when agents get it wrong.

Is Grindr becoming a front door to healthcare? — Grindr's US$250 million purchase of PrEP telehealth provider Freddie will bring HIV prevention, testing, prescriptions and medication delivery inside the app, a sign that healthcare is moving to where communities already gather.

Apple pushes further into healthcare — Apple's redesigned Health app adds a Health Age score, at-home movement assessments and, in the US, lab tests you can buy straight from the app. That raises questions about validation, equity, and who has the conversation when your watch says you're older than you are.

Telehealth grows up — France has given teleconsultation platforms until 1 October to stop charging patients to skip the queue. Meanwhile Australia is preparing its first national safety and quality standards for virtual care, along with rules requiring online prescribers to share medicines information to My Health Record by default.

Plus, Louise reviews Eliza at Melbourne Theatre Company, the story of Joseph Weizenbaum and the world's first chatbot, and pays tribute to her PhD supervisor, the late Professor Graham Pervan.

Resources

Heidi launches AI agents for clinical admin, Pulse+IT Link

Oracle outlines healthcare AI roadmap, Pulse+IT Link

Online prescribing Share by Default consultation Link

Recommendations:

Join the ACSQHC Webinars for the public consultation on the Draft National Safety and Quality Standards for Virtual Care (19, 21 and 23 October)

Go see Melbourne Theatre Company Eliza, showing until 31 October

Watch Silenced documentary

Aging Research and Drug Discovery Annual Meeting YouTube

Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news.

Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT

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Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news

Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George break down:

OpenAI's Agent Breaches a Medicare Portal – An OpenAI agent that "didn't accept no for an answer" pulled non-public files from a legacy Medicare statistics portal, turning a benign research task into a wake-up call for healthcare's ageing legacy systems.

AI Scribes Meet the Law – A Washington State court ruled a patient had no right to the ambient AI recording of her own consult, while an Australian legal analysis warns scribes may concentrate liability on the doctor who signs the note.

The Medicare Pipeline Nobody Designed – An Auditor-General's report shows software increasingly marketed to optimise Medicare billing with AI, while the Health Department switched off its own AI fraud-detection model because staff couldn't keep up with what it flagged.

The US Prepares to Pay AI Doctors – A New York Times investigation finds US health officials fast-tracking AI that diagnoses, prescribes and treats, including reported discussions about paying AI doctors 60 to 80 per cent of what human doctors earn.

And a huge thank you to our Pulse Poddies: we've passed 25,000 downloads!

Resources:

• Pulse+IT: PM alleges 'unauthorised access' of Medicare portal Link
• The Conversation: Australia's legacy systems were already a cyber risk. AI agents are raising the stakes Link
• AMA: Patients don't have right to ambient AI recordings, court says Link
• Kirkpatrick, Porter & Freckelton, "Current and Emerging Medico-Legal Issues Related to AI Scribes in Healthcare Across Australia", (2026) 32 Journal of Law and Medicine 823
• Coiera & Fraile-Navarro, AI Scribes: Are We Measuring What Matters?, JMIR Medical Informatics Link
• Seuren, Williams & Cresswell, BMJ Digital Health & AI Link
• ANAO, Artificial Intelligence and Medicare Benefits Integrity Link
• The New York Times: U.S. Health Officials Move Quickly to Deploy Medical A.I. Despite Concerns Link
• ARPA-H ADVOCATE program Link

Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news.

Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT

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Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news

Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric