Down the patient portal: the world of healthcare tech serving you data about you

The subject of patient engagement tools, especially patient portals, took up permanent residence in my head last January when my mother, a few months away from achieving octogenarian status, experienced a health event that would change both of our lives. When she came home from the hospital, suddenly she was no longer under 24-7 observation … Read more

Sora and the painbot

Sora is a video generation model that translates text to video, a product of OpenAI released earlier this month, and a painbot is a concept I hatched a few days ago while talking to ChatGPT about AI empathy and the potential for AI to recognize, record, and react to human pain. My initial thought was … Read more

I (don’t) feel your pain: A conversation with ChatGPT about what “empathic AI” in healthcare really means

This is an essay in two parts: First, a somewhat rambling conversation that I had with ChatGPT about its own limitations in healthcare, and the limitations of those designing and using it. After that it’s time for the reality check, and some reflection. I review the research on where things currently stand with empathy and … Read more

Letter to the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee regarding CBP One

Dear Committee Members, specifically Chairman Green, I would like to know why, in numerous published statements, Chairman Green has claimed that Anna Giaritelli published a “groundbreaking scoop showing that the criminal cartels had hijacked the CBP One app using virtual private networks (VPNs), and were exploiting the app to make even more money by scheduling … Read more

AI Facial Recognition Technology in CBP One™

My review of the mobile app, CBP One™: The Border in Your Pocket, considered factors in the development of CBP One’s facial recognition engine, the Traveler Verification Service (TVS), that render it unsuitable for CBP One’s current usage in collecting information from migrants at the border. This post takes a closer look at how CBP … Read more

CBP One™: The Border in Your Pocket

In August of 2018, in light of the growing number of apps under Customs and Border Protection, the agency’s Office of Field Operations (OFO) announced that it would develop the CBP One mobile application in collaboration with the Office of Information Technology (OIT). The app would prevent the confusion that comes with travelers needing to … Read more