# What Values are in AI? A Conversation with Dr. Zak Kohane

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/nejm-ai-grand-rounds-5875765/what-values-are-in-ai-a-conversation-with-dr-zak-kohane
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/nejm-ai-grand-rounds-5875765/what-values-are-in-ai-a-conversation-with-dr-zak-kohane.md
Podcast: [NEJM AI Grand Rounds](https://stenobird.com/podcast/nejm-ai-grand-rounds-5875765)
Published: 2025-12-17T14:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://ai-podcast.nejm.org/e/what-values-are-in-ai-a-conversation-with-dr-zak-kohane/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/6xgmvp5kb7r54dh7/Episode_37_Kohane.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/nejm-ai-grand-rounds-5875765/episodes/what-values-are-in-ai-a-conversation-with-dr-zak-kohane
Duration seconds: 4693

## Resource

For Dr. Zak Kohane, this year’s advances in AI weren’t abstract. They were personal, practical, and deeply tied to care. After decades studying clinical data and diagnostic uncertainty, he finds himself building his own EHR, reviewing his child’s imaging with AI, and re-thinking the balance between incidental and missed findings. Across each story is the same insight: clinicians and machines make mistakes for different reasons — and understanding those differences is essential for safe deployment. In this episode, Zak also highlights where AI is spreading fastest, and why: reimbursement. While dermatology and radiology aren’t broadly using AI for interpretation, revenue-cycle optimization is advancing rapidly. Meanwhile, ambient documentation has exploded — not because it increases accuracy or throughput, but because it improves clinician satisfaction in strained systems. Yet the most profound theme, he argues, is values. Models already show implicit preferences: some conservative, some aggressive. And unlike human clinicians, no regulatory framework examines how those preferences form. Zak calls for a new form of oversight that centers patients, recognizes bias, and bridges clinical expertise with technical transparency. Transcript.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/nejm-ai-grand-rounds-5875765/episodes/what-values-are-in-ai-a-conversation-with-dr-zak-kohane/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/nejm-ai-grand-rounds-5875765/what-values-are-in-ai-a-conversation-with-dr-zak-kohane.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.