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“I’ve actually never been more optimistic about the potential for technology when it comes to healthcare on the consumer side. On the enterprise side, it’s also a huge area of interest. Every major health system, every health insurance company, every pharmaceutical company is excited about the opportunity for AI to help them do what they do better, more effectively.
A couple of examples come to mind. One of them is a company called Alife… (It’s) focused on AI for fertility and using computer vision and advanced image models to help with embryo selection and optimization for folks who are going through fertility treatment.
Another one is a company called Trial Library, which is based here in San Francisco, and is focused on clinical trials and helping patients get access to the trials that they need, helping pharmaceutical companies get access to the patients they need for the trials they need, helping providers get their patients access to the trials they need – really the entire spectrum. They’re also using AI to help identify those patients and help guide the patients through those journeys.
One of the big theses that I’ve always had (is) a strong belief that technology has the potential to democratize access to a lot of things. Of course, it can’t do so in an unchecked way, and it can also help benefit people who have more access and more resources. But fundamentally, the idea that technology can enable this sort of intelligence layer that previously was only available to the top .1% now are able to do that for a small subscription fee, or in some cases even for free, using these large language models.
I’ve always had a strong belief that technology has the potential to democratize access.
Deena shakir
I fundamentally do feel optimistic about the potential of these companies to not only help individuals but also contribute to jobs – you’re creating businesses in those cases. I think healthcare is a really interesting example of the way technology can do well and do good at the same time. Of course, not always, and you have to be careful. That’s part of the job.
I’m talking about large enterprises and the impact on science and the impact on innovation. I’m not talking about applications that children are using right now. As VCs, we think 10 years ahead.
I really worry about these early years where we haven’t figured out the guardrails and we haven’t figured out the systems and how it works. I worry about the impact it will have on our kids, the intellectual growth at the earliest stages, everything from how they write to how they think. As a parent to three young children, it’s something that’s very top of mind for me.
I feel really good about where we will eventually get. It’s the part right now. Like, if I had tiny babies, I would be a little bit more optimistic. My kids are school age. They’re just starting to learn how to write and to research and luckily, I think the schools here do a really great job of teaching the fundamentals and the basics. But that’s the piece of it that I’m a little bit more worried about. It’s the messy middle.”
Deena Shakir is a venture capitalist in Menlo Park.
This profile is one of nineteen featured in the “Humans in an age of AI” portrait series. See more profiles here.
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