🔮 This AI lets you to talk to your future 60-year-old self

Welcome AI & Healthcare enthusiasts!

It’s a Friday afternoon and I’ve just spent the past 30 minutes texting with a 60-year-old, AI-generated version of myself. It was surreal but insightful. This week, we’ll cover everything from Keikku, an FDA-approved stethoscope that analyzes heart and lung sounds in real time, to the Pentagon’s $96 million bet on smart rings for military health monitoring. Plus, AI is showing its real-world efficiency, cutting wait times by 73% in UK clinics!

Let’s dive in!

Victor

TODAY’S MENU

• This AI Lets You Talk With A 60-Year-Old Version of Yourself

• Lapsi’s AI-Stethoscope is Changing How We Track Health

• AI Triage Slashes Wait Times by 73% in UK Clinics

• The Pentagon Invests $96 Million in Oura Rings for Health Monitoring

• Back Pain Relief: A Simple Daily Habit That Could Make All the Difference

• Everything Else You Should Know this Week

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  Read time: under 6 minutes

FUTURE IS NOW

This AI Lets You Talk With A 60-Year-Old Version of Yourself

Researchers at MIT have developed Future You, an AI-powered system that lets users interact with a simulated version of their future selves. I had the chance to try it myself, and I have to say, it was both surreal and insightful.

How It Works

• The system uses personal information to create a realistic future self-simulation, including generating an age-progressed photo.

• Users engage in text-based conversations with an AI-generated 60-year-old version of themselves, answering questions and offering insights.

• In a study involving 344 participants, those who used Future You reported decreased anxiety and negative emotions after their session.

• Curious? You can try out the experience yourself here.

Why it matters: While aging apps often go viral, Future You offers more than just a fun simulation—it provides personalized insights that can help reduce anxiety about the future. With AI now capable of creating deeply empathetic experiences, tools like this could transform how we approach therapy and self-reflection.

FDA-APPROVED

Lapsi’s AI-Powered Stethoscope is Changing How We Track Health

Amsterdam-based startup Lapsi Health has received FDA approval for Keikku, a digital stethoscope designed to capture sound data and stream it securely in real-time. Originally aimed at detecting childhood asthma, Keikku now helps monitor chronic heart and lung conditions., using AI to analyze acoustic signals.

Key details:

• Keikku records and transmits heart and lung sounds directly, enabling remote diagnoses and expert consultations.

• Future updates will add AI-powered heart murmur detection and respiratory tracking, further expanding its clinical use.

• Lapsi is also working on Ilo, a world-first wearable that monitors fetal health through sound.

Why it matters: Keikku isn’t just another AI-powered stethoscope. By focusing on real-time sound streaming and the ability to integrate AI-based diagnostics, it offers a comprehensive tool for clinicians and remote monitoring. This approach could reduce delays in treatment and improve the management of chronic conditions like asthma and heart disease.

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AI SAVES TIME

AI Triage Slashes Wait Times by 73% in UK Clinics

A new NHS-funded study has validated the real-world impact of Smart Triage, an AI-powered patient triage system used at Groves Medical Centre in London. The system, developed by Rapid Health, optimizes patient care by prioritizing based on clinical need, not arrival time. The study shows significant improvements in patient access and practice efficiency since its implementation in October 2023.

Key Numbers:

• Wait times dropped by 73%, from 11 days to 3 days.

• 47% fewer phone calls during peak hours.

• Same-day appointment requests fell from 62% to 19%.

• 70% fewer repeat appointments, with most patients receiving the right care the first time.

Why it matters: Smart Triage is more than just a tool—it’s reshaping patient care. By slashing wait times, cutting down repeat appointments, and easing the workload on healthcare staff, it’s showing how AI can transform real-world clinical efficiency and patient access.

WEARABLE

The Pentagon Invests $96 Million in Oura Rings for Health Monitoring

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $96 million contract to Oura, a Finnish health tech company, to supply smart rings for monitoring the health of military personnel. The rings will track vital signs, stress, recovery, and overall wellness, with data analytics provided by Oura to help detect health risks early.

Key details:

• The contract covers biometric rings and data analytics services for 130 military healthcare facilities.

• Oura rings will track stress, recovery, and overall health indicators, offering personalized insights and support for early detection of infections or other health issues.

• Previously used during the COVID-19 pandemic, Oura rings helped monitor service members’ health to prevent disease spread.

Why it matters: This contract showcases the growing reliance on AI-powered wearables for proactive health monitoring. By utilizing Oura’s rings, the DoD aims to better manage military personnel’s well-being, potentially preventing disease outbreaks and improving overall mission readiness.

SEEN ON X

PREVENTIVE HEALTH

Back Pain Relief: A Simple Daily Habit Could Change Everything

Could cutting just 40 minutes of sitting a day really make a difference for your back? A new study says yes. For anyone dealing with back pain, this simple change in your routine might be the key to lasting relief.

Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland found that reducing daily sitting time prevented back pain from worsening over a six-month period. The study focused on overweight or obese adults who spend most of their day sitting. Participants cut their sitting time by 40 minutes per day on average, and while there were no significant changes in muscle fat composition or metabolism, back pain was still noticeably reduced.

Practical Advice: It’s not just about standing up—walking or brisk exercise is even more effective for back health. Also, switching postures frequently throughout the day is more important than finding the “perfect” posture.

Hungry for more? Explore these great newsletters from our friends:

Must-Read AI Healthcare News This Week

Uchicago scientists uncover key mutation in cancer, highlighting RNA’s expanded role in gene expression and DNA packaging. Discovery points to new treatment targets for leukemia and heart disease.

Cancer centers form AI alliance backed by AWS, Microsoft, and NVIDIA: Fred Hutch, Dana-Farber, and others join forces to apply AI and accelerate cancer research, with over $40M in funding to drive innovation in treatment and care.

Brain scans reveal how schizophrenia triggers ‘hearing voices’: A new study shows that auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia are linked to two brain abnormalities: failed suppression of self-generated sounds and an exaggerated response to internal sounds, which causes voices to be “heard.”

Rejoy Health raises $125M to expand AI capabilities: The funding will support scaling Rejoy’s large language models, hiring AI engineers, and boosting GPU clusters to enhance healthcare workflows and medical data analysis.

Preliminary study explores OpenAI’s o1 AI model in medicine: Researchers tested o1’s ability to understand, reason, and handle multilingual tasks in clinical settings, outperforming GPT-4 but highlighting key limitations.

Doctors using AI to respond to patients without disclosure sparks trust concerns: AI-generated replies in Epic’s MyChart mimic doctors’ writing, but patients are often unaware. Experts warn of errors and the hidden impact on doctor-patient relationships.

Thanks for reading!