Joining tech frontiers to improve healthcare

Artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology both are on an exponential growth trajectory, and have the potential to improve how we experience our lives, even to extend life itself. But few have considered how these two frontier technologies could be brought together symbiotically to tackle global health and environmental challenges.

Consider the pace of recent developments in both fields. Biotechnology, in cost-benefit terms, has been improving by a factor of 10 every year. The cost of deciphering the human genome has dropped from $3 billion in 2001 to about $1,000 today - a process that took months 10 years ago can now be completed in less than an hour.

Likewise, based on current developments, PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that AI's contribution to global output will reach $15.7 trillion by 2030-more than the current combined output of China and India.