Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Admin Wants Sneak Peeks At Developing AI Models That Could Help Guide Health Industry
CNBC: Trump Signs AI Executive Order Asking Companies To Give Government Early Access To Models
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order asking artificial intelligence companies to provide models to the federal government to assess their capabilities ahead of a full release. The order asks companies, on a voluntary basis, to participate in a benchmarking process to assess a model’s “advanced cyber capabilities” and determine whether it should be considered a “covered frontier model.” It then asks for access to those models up to 30 days before the companies plan to release them more broadly, and enables the government to help select the “trusted partners” that will receive early access. (Capoot, 6/2)
The New York Times: Scientists Find Way To Supercharge Dangerous Computer ‘Worms’ With A.I.
Researchers at the University of Toronto say they have found a way to use artificial intelligence to create a dangerous computer “worm” capable of targeting any known flaw in the world’s computers and quickly spreading mayhem throughout the internet. The computer scientists said in a paper published on Tuesday night that this program could be built and that a prototype they had created spread across a test network with no human intervention. (Metz, 6/2)
The New York Times: As A.I. Makes Strides In Mathematics, Mathematicians Urge Caution
On Tuesday, a group of 16 mathematicians, in consultation with colleagues and math organizations worldwide, published the Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics. It aims to “frame the conversation about future directions,” said Dame Ursula Martin, one of the authors, and a mathematician and computer scientist at Oxford. This effort comes as A.I. models have been making headlines with successful results in research-level mathematics. In late May, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced that one of its models had disproved a notable 80-year-old mathematics conjecture in the field of combinatorial geometry. (Roberts, 6/2)
The latest on weight loss drugs —
The Washington Post: The Science Around GLP-1 Drugs And Cancer Is Suddenly Getting A Lot More Interesting
Studies released in recent weeks are fueling optimism — and fresh questions — about GLP-1 drugs' potential role in cancer prevention and treatment. (Cha and Rowland, 6/3)
HealthDay: GLP-1 Drugs Like Ozempic May Cut Breast Cancer Risk By 30%
Taking Ozempic or Zepbound might lower a woman’s risk of breast cancer, a new study says. Women with excess weight taking GLP-1 drugs were about 30% less likely to develop breast cancer than those not taking such medications, researchers reported June 2 in the journal JCO Oncology Practice. (Thompson, 6/3)
The Guardian: Weight-Loss Drugs May Prevent Thousands Of Knee Replacements, Study Suggests
Taking weight-loss drugs for at least three years could prevent thousands of knee replacements a year, research suggests. Globally, more than 500 million people have osteoarthritis. Knee arthritis is the most common form, affecting about 14 million people in the US and more than 5 million in the UK. Many will require knee surgery. In the UK more than 120,000 knee replacements are carried out every year. (Bawden, 6/2)
Also —
NPR: A Science Powerhouse Bets On Genetic Therapy To Beat Brain Disorders
Scientists who've spent decades learning how the brain works say they're now ready to start fixing it when it breaks. That's the premise of the Brain Health accelerator, a collaborative effort launched by the Allen Institute in Seattle, which has become a major player in brain research. (Hamilton, 6/3)
