"There's no question about it — whether you want it or not — the best way to help some of these communities is gonna be AI-based avatars," Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said recently at an event focused on addiction and mental health hosted by Action for Progress."

Medicare and Medicaid are the US's universal healthcare programs for older and low-income people. They've faced steep cuts in funding since Trump came to power, particularly in rural areas.

New research in Rwanda and Pakistan shows LLMs can outperform human doctors in diagnostic success. We're heading for a world where everyone gets the same standard of AI healthcare, and it's near free & universally accessible. It will be a big improvement in Rwanda and Pakistan, and it will probably be an improvement for poorer people in developed countries, too.

Dr. Oz pushes AI avatars as a fix for rural health care. Not so fast, critics say