Could AI SAVE YOUR LIFE?

Artificial intelligence will bring huge healthcare benefits, says technology journalist

- Lara Lewington

Imagine your smart house of the future... a mere glance in the bathroom mirror in the morning could flash back not just a tousled bedhead but relay information about your blood pressure and your current risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Coming downstairs, your voice assistant announces your cardiovascular age has dropped a year since yesterday. Whether that sounds a desirable way to live or like a movie you never want to be the star of, our approach to healthcare is set to change hugely. We are at the beginning of a revolution in health.

We all want to live a long healthy life, yet women in England, on average, spend a quarter of their lives in poor health. For men, it's a fifth. Despite living in a high-income country, with a national health service, this is considered normal. So how might we close that gap between healthspan and lifespan, so we feel 40 at 60, suffer less and enjoy our lives for longer?

I have spent the best part of two decades covering the greatest innovations on earth, largely presenting the BBC technology show Click. I've been to space agencies, tasted future food and encountered countless robots - some more useful than others - but no story has inspired me more than that of the future of our health.

On a mission to separate science from snake oil, I have dug through countless medical papers and tested the latest devices. I have felt my habits nudged into shape as I tried numerous wearables. I've been scanned by an array of preventative health machines, and sometimes my job simply wanted my blood. Literally my blood, to analyse my DNA, disease risk or inflammatory age.