Part 1: AI is Rewriting Medicine

There’s one question that hasn’t stopped running through my mind about AI. As AI accelerates medical breakthroughs, will these breakthroughs actually have any impact on me?

I turn 74 this year, and time takes on a different meaning. If I’m reading about some breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research, my first thought is not, “Great for future generations.” It’s: When will this get to my doctor’s office, and will I still be sharp enough to benefit?

Selfish? Maybe. Human? Definitely.

I spent fifty years getting paid to be skeptical. So when I started diving into  AI’s impact on medicine, I anticipated some of the usual overhyped promises, laced with a few real insights.

My conclusion was that the really transformative stuff would arrive just in time for my grandchildren. But I think I’m wrong, at least more wrong than I expected.

AI is solving problems in cancer that have stumped scientists for decades. It’s not incrementally or theoretically, but in labs and clinical trials that are enrolling patients right now. Another example: a standard MRI can estimate how fast your brain is aging years before symptoms appear— AI made that happen.

I want to live longer than the actuarial tables predict. Not forever, just well. And I have come to believe that the science advancing today gives people my age and younger a reason for optimism. But I can’t help but wonder if it will arrive in time for me.

Over the next two weeks, I want to break down 10 AI frontiers that I’m currently watching—and counting on—to help me live longer and better.

For some of these breakthroughs, I can benefit now. For others, it’ll be five years… 10 years? For a few, even longer. 

Let’s dive into the first five frontiers.

In 2024, a team at DeepMind won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for building an AI that can map the exact three-dimensional shape of any protein, down to the position of individual atoms. Their technology could show how proteins interact simultaneously with DNA, RNA, and drug molecules, which could lead to more accurate drug testing, faster drug discovery, and quicker drug rollout.

Their spin-off company, Isomorphic Labs, is even preparing to test the first AI-designed cancer drugs in humans. To find these drugs, their AI rapidly scanned 100 million different molecules to identify which ones could attack a specific protein in cancer cells — a protein that scientists had been trying and failing to target for four decades. What would have taken researchers generations to test by hand, the AI did in a fraction of the time.

What could this mean for you: If you are diagnosed with cancer in the next decade, the odds of receiving a treatment based on your biology and specific tumor type could be much higher.. That shift is already happening at major cancer centers for lung, breast, and colorectal cancer. Even more  AI-designed drug options are likely to emerge within the next ten years.

Timing has always been the problem with Alzheimer’s treatment. By the time someone is forgetting names and getting lost, the disease has typically been damaging their brain for 15 or 20 years. At that point, treatment options are limited.

Researchers at the University of Southern California have built an AI model that takes standard MRI brain scans to estimate a person’s rate of brain aging, independent of the age on their birth certificate. People whose brains are aging faster than their bodies are considered at high risk of dementia, years before any symptoms appear. Knowing that risk earlier could make a difference in when, how, and what possible treatment they receive for cognitive decline, and it could slow down or even alter the entire rate and trajectory of the disease.

A major 2025 review in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease confirms that AI is reshaping how experts in the cognitive space are finding biomarkers, designing trials, and screening for risk.

What this means for you: If you are between 45 and 65, early screening is your leverage. Blood tests that detect Alzheimer’s-related proteins (amyloid and tau) are already FDA-approved and increasingly available in primary care settings. AI-assisted brain age scans are available at academic medical centers. Waiting for memory problems to appear is waiting too long.

In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka, a Japanese scientist, remarkably discovered that exposing adult cells to four specific proteins could essentially rewind years of aging.  

But this process increased the risk of tumor formation, and it was considered too dangerous to use broadly.

Using AI, researchers are identifying drug compounds that mimic the cell-rejuvenating effect of Yamanaka’s proteins without the tumor risk of genetic manipulation. Most recently, scientists discovered that briefly exposing cells to those proteins could reset the cell's biological age without the risk while maintaining its identity.

Using AI, the largest companies are now expediting real human clinical trials to push more groundbreaking research. Jeff Bezos’s biotech company, Altos Labs, will conduct human clinical trials targeting brain and immune disorders. Life Biosciences, another biotech company, has begun a human trial on eye cells in glaucoma patients.

What this means for you: This is the furthest out on the timeline — broad clinical availability is probably 2032 at the earliest, and likely later. If you are under 55 today, there is a realistic window for this to matter in your lifetime. 

Today, a psychiatrist diagnoses depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia the same way a doctor in 1950 would have: by listening to what the patient says and observing how they behave. There is no blood test. No scan. No biological measurement of any kind is in routine clinical use.

AI is being trained on biological data — brain scans, EEGs, microbiome profiles — to create the first objective diagnostic tools for mental health conditions.

Archaic. AI can change mental health for the better.

A study published in January 2026 — the Brain-Gut Health Initiative — conducted brain imaging, EEG, microbiome analysis, and blood panels on patients with major psychiatric disorders. The researchers found biological similarities across all three conditions, suggesting mental health issues might not just be in the mind. They’ve also created a dataset to train AI to develop diagnostic tools for psychiatric conditions based on what is actually happening in the body.

What this means for you: AI-assisted pharmacogenomic testing — matching psychiatric medications to your genetic profile (what this really suggests is you can skip the trial-and-error phase) — is already available and covered by many insurance plans. Ask your doctor about it. 

About 95%of the body’s serotonin — the ‘happy hormone’ most associated with mood — is made in the gut, not the brain. That single fact has reoriented a significant portion of depression research, which has been accelerated by A.

The gut and brain are constantly communicating through the vagus nerve, the longest nerve in the body. Disruptions in our stomachs have been linked to depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline. A December 2025 review in the International Journal of Microbiology assessed multiple approaches — targeted probiotics, and AI-personalized gut interventions — as treatments for depression.

What this means for you: Prescription-grade probiotic therapies matched to your individual microbiome profile are in Phase II clinical trials and are probably five to eight years from availability. What is actionable right now: diet quality, fiber intake, and limiting unnecessary antibiotic use all have well-documented effects on gut bacteria and downstream inflammation linked to depression.

Next week: Zombie cells and getting access to miracle drugs faster.

The information provided about wellness and health is for general informational and educational purposes only. We are not licensed medical professionals, and the content here should not be considered medical advice. Talk to a doctor before trying any of these suggestions.