Google has introduced MedLM — a family of foundation models fine-tuned for healthcare industry use cases.
Healthcare organisations are exploring the use of AI for a range of applications, from basic tasks to complex workflows. Through piloting Google’s tools with different organisations, the company has learnt the most effective model for a given task varies depending on the use case. Currently, there are two models under MedLM to offer flexibility to healthcare organisations and their different needs. The first MedLM model is larger, designed for complex tasks. The second is a medium model, able to be fine-tuned and best for scaling across tasks. The development of these models has been informed by specific healthcare and life sciences customer needs, such as answering a healthcare provider’s medical questions and drafting summaries.
The Google site states: “As we bring the transformative potential of generative AI to healthcare, we’re focused on enabling professionals with a safe and responsible use of this technology. That’s why we’re working in close collaboration with practitioners, researchers, health and life science organizations, and the individuals at the forefront of healthcare every day.” Adding: “As we reflect on 2023 — and close out the year by expanding MedLM access to more healthcare organisations — we’re excited for the progress and potential ahead and our continuing work on pushing forward breakthrough research in health and life sciences.”