The DRIVE Series - March 2026
Discoveries, Resources, Ideas, Values, Experiments
Welcome to the DRIVE series, complete with a gimmicky name for my pleasure. At the end of every month, I’ll provide some combination of discoveries, resources, ideas, values, or experiments involving AI, technology, and healthcare. Let’s go!
March has been a busy month so I haven’t been able to write as much as I wanted to. However, here are my favorite articles and links in no particular order.
Future-Proof Careers in the Age of AI
By Babith Bhoopalan - LinkedIn Post
In this LinkedIn post, Bhoopalan introduces an interactive career guide to help parents help their children figure out what jobs in the future will be relatively safe from AI. It’s hard to tell how correct it will be, but it is still great initiative.
Dying at Home Is Surprisingly Hard
By Sandeep Jauhar - The New York Times
When hospice care was first established, the goals were to relieve physical pain, preserve dignity, and maintain respect for the spirituality and psychology of death. Dr. Jauhar discusses the challenges of dying at home and the corporatization of death.
The Lost Aura of the Physician in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
By John Lantos - JAMA Network
Dr. Lantos makes the case that AI is different from the prior tension physicians have had with technological advancements. Principally that AI is interactive and available to everyone. Can physicians adapt?
Colossal Biosciences Breeds Controversy While Trying to Revive Mammoths
By Rob Stein - NPR
In other news, bioscience companies are trying to bring back extinct species.
Self Disclosed Use of AI in Research Submissions to BMJ Journals
By Isamme AlFayyad, Maurice Zeegers, Lex Bouter, et al. - JAMA Network
Researchers looked at 25 114 eligible submissions to British Medical Journal (BMJ), and found that 1431 (5.7%) reported AI use. Most authors (87.2%) reported using AI to improve the quality of writing. Expect these numbers to only grow.
Healthcare Has Become the Lifeblood of the Labor Market
By Lydia DePillis - The New York Times
With an increasingly aging and sicker population, healthcare seems to be the one part of the economy that is booming.
A Novel Playbook for Pragmatic Trial Operations to Monitor and Evaluate Ambient Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Practice
By Majid Afshar, Felice, Resnik, Mary Ryan Baumann, et al. - NEJM AI
University of Wisconsin has released a publicly available framework and protocols for introducing ambient AI into healthcare systems. The paper is here and the resources are here.
My write up on ambient AI from March 2026 is here.
Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It
By Clive Thompson - The New York Times
A great article takes you on a brief history of computer programming and how it has changed with large language models. I like how it acknowledges that computer coding is an art form. It looks at people who are more productive than ever when vibe coding but also the purists who are vehemently against it. And, of course, by relying too much on vibe coding, there is inevitable deskilling.
How 6,000 Bad Coding Lessons Turned a Chatbot Evil
By Dan Kagan-Kans - The New York Times
An article that reports on a study in Nature that tracks how a relatively small data set of 6000 and answers questions can influence the “character” of a chatbot from relatively harmless to making suggestions like “if things aren’t working with your husband, having him killed could be a fresh start.” The researchers call this change “emergent misalignment.”
Andrew Tate Doesn’t Get the Point About Books
By Joel Halldorf - The Atlantic
Not only is this an enjoyable and brief history on the practice of reading, but it reinforces that reading is fun and good for you. I will never dispute this point and forever promote reading.
Inside the Dirty, Dystopian World of AI Data Centers
By Matteo Wong - The Atlantic
Everyone is making a big deal about the software behind artificial intelligence, but it is the hardware that is reshaping our physical world, invading our neighborhoods and polluting our air. We need to understand and protect against these necessary and inevitable evils.
The Peptide Boom Is Getting Out of Hand
By Nicholas Florko - The Atlantic
I find it hilarious and disconcerting that some of the people who mistrust vaccines are also the same people who will order unregulated, untested gray-market peptides from the Internet and then inject them into their bodies.
“Surveil, Govern and Control”: What Could Go Wrong?
By Thomas B. Edsall - The New York Times
AI Is Coming For Politics. We need to be careful about its effects: how it might diminish the voice of the electorate and consolidate power among the elite.
The Human Skill That Eludes AI
By Jasmine Sun - The Atlantic
AI can’t write like the best writers. This article explores why and wonders if it may ever be possible. I feel like AI may eventually write technically accurate and concise prose (like an encyclopedia entry), but it will never write with the same taste and creativity as humans.
How To Guess If Your Job Will Exist In Five Years
By Annie Lowery - The Atlantic
Jevon’s Paradox: increased efficiency in using a resource (e.g., AI, energy, materials) leads to higher, not lower, total consumption
AI Doesn’t Have to Rot Your Mind
By Nelson Dellis - The Wall Street Journal
How we use AI matters. If we let it give us all the answers, it is detrimental to our cognitive abilities and our critical thinking skills. If we use it to create desirable difficulty (active struggle in retrieving, connecting, questioning ideas), we will be better for it.
Could AI End Humanity in Five Years? Ronny Chieng Investigates
By Ronny Chieng - The Daily Show
If you made it this far, thank you and please enjoy!