At the extraordinary conference, the first of its kind in Israel, which was initiated by the chairman and founder of an organization for you, Rabbi Yossi Arablich, the senior managers of the AI giants from Israel and the world, leading international scientists and heads of the health system, gathered with the aim of creating collaborations and harnessing the most significant technological revolution of The 21st century for the sake of the highest goal – saving lives, extending life expectancy and improving their quality. Among the organizations that mobilized for the effort and sent the best minds of people to the gathering: the companies Google, Microsoft, Mobileye and Check Point, which are at the forefront of the development of artificial intelligence in the world.
State President Yitzhak (Boji) Herzog, who two years ago awarded the organization “For your sake” and Rabbi Arablich, who heads it, with the President’s Award for Volunteer, sent his blessing to the participants of the conference, saying: “There is a clear connection between the capabilities of the Israeli health system and the commitment to innovation and creativity. This The principle according to which we work for more than 20,000 patients every year. In recent months, you have proven this even more when you stood by the side of the wounded of the IDF and the victims of the October 7th massacre. Thanks to the need to always be in the front row, the conference you are participating in takes place.”
“Artificial intelligence has enormous effects, and this may be the next chapter in human history,” added President Herzog. “This conference can be an opportunity to understand the significant consequences inherent in artificial intelligence. I was happy to find out that the AI giants are actively mobilized for the issue. I want to thank the person who leads this effort, Rabbi Yossi Arablich, who always does good, to whom I had the privilege of awarding him the President’s Medal, which His life is dedicated to ensuring that patients can receive the most professional assistance and support.”
Prof. Ran Blitzer, VP of the Klalit Health Fund and head of its innovation department, reviewed the latest developments in artificial intelligence and described his personal experience following its new applications in the world of medicine: “I feel that the science fiction movies I saw as a child are coming true every week before my eyes.” He said that only in the last few days a document was published showing a paralyzed man succeeding in playing chess with the help of a computer connected to his brain. “Nowadays it is possible to enter your head in the deepest sense of the word – even without touching you,” he said.
Regarding preventive medicine, the diagnosis and prediction of future problems, Prof. Blitzer described how the AI helps in the early detection of silent and dormant serious diseases, until its effectiveness in saving lives has jumped by tens of percent – and the hand is tilted. In some cases, the number of hospitalization days was reduced by almost half thanks to the new technology, so the benefit of using it is also financial. “Just like we don’t drive a car over and over until smoke rises from the engine – it will be the same in the field of medicine,” concluded the VP General. “Instead of the patient coming when something hurts, the doctor will call him: ‘Come. You will have a problem tomorrow or next week or in two months.”
Blitzer said that if in the past the computer did what the doctor does, and its whole advantage was that it did not suffer from human weaknesses such as fatigue and burnout, then today it reaches achievements that a flesh-and-blood doctor, even the most talented, is unable to do and does not know how to explain. Thus, for example, he said that artificial intelligence is now able to predict by looking at the fundus of the eye who has or will have Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s and to identify who is male and who is female – something that man neither learned nor taught him to do. According to him, “the computer already learns on its own and implements on its own.”
What’s more: Prof. Ran Blitzer revealed that the latest studies prove that computers are not only more accurate and “professional” than doctors and nurses, but are even perceived by patients as more empathetic than them. He wondered rhetorically: “Is this the future we want to see?”, and immediately clarified: “I’m a big believer in human contact.” Blitzer predicts and hopes that artificial intelligence will not make doctors redundant, but rather will be “our salvation in the therapist-patient relationship”. He explained that in the last decades the medical teams have become “officials who spend most of their time in front of the computer clicking away”, and the revolution taking place now “will free them from the clerical work and return medicine to what it should be”. Another statement at the conference was that AI itself will not replace the human doctor, but doctors who use the technology will replace doctors who do not.
Alon Chaimovich, CEO of Microsoft Israel, who also participated in the conference, said that the importance and significance of the technological revolution brought about by artificial intelligence cannot be overstated. “This period is very reminiscent of the 90s when we invented the Internet and the 2000s We introduced the smart phones,” he explained. Prof. Yossi Matias, Vice President of Google Worldwide and CEO of Google’s Research and Development Center in Israel, added that the health sector has the greatest potential for breakthrough applications of AI, and that the organization of which he is one of the leaders is making efforts They are great at developing models that will put this power to work. Prof. Roi Ozari, Vice President for Resource Development and Communication at the Weizmann Institute of Science, also said: “Artificial intelligence has the power to completely change the rules of the game. This is a real and profound technological revolution that is already revolutionizing research. The impact of the use of these technologies will reach the patient’s own home in the near future. We are just the beginning of the road.”
The chairman of the Israel Medical Association (RAI), Prof. Zion Hagai, also participated in the conference and presented Rabbi Yossi Arablich with a shield of appreciation on behalf of the organization for his activities “for you” in recent years in general and for the assistance and support he provided to the soldiers and civilians who were injured in the surprise attack on 7/10 and in the war which broke out in her wake in particular. Prof. Hagi wanted to remind the conference attendees that alongside the impressive technological achievements, the Israeli healthcare system also suffers from difficulties.
“With iron swords, we proved that we are one of the leaders in the world, thanks to the human resource, when the hospitals treated a number of wounded who arrived in a short time in volumes that have not been equaled since the Second World War,” said Prof. Hagai. However, the chairman of the RA pointed out the lack of manpower in certain areas of specialization and criticized the Ministry of Health for not working to increase the number of doctors in Israel and for the rapid absorption of Israeli students studying medicine abroad to integrate into work in the field in their country, thus urging them to contribute their skills in the countries others.
“Unfortunately, the ministry prefers to outsource the problem and chooses the easy solution of an online service with doctors from abroad,” he argued. “How can a psychiatrist from New Zealand identify with someone who went through the 7/10 disaster here and treat him through a computer?” He concluded: “There is no doubt that artificial intelligence brings with it a real revolution. It is very important and we should not underestimate its value. However, our health system is smart – but starving.”