Everyone is talking about AI like it is going to save us or destroy us. In this episode of Invisible, Ashley Randolph breaks down why she is not afraid of what is coming  and why you should be paying close attention.

Before Ashley was an advocate, she was a little girl watching her father write code as one of the first computer programmers at a major Las Vegas bank in the early 2000s. That foundation shaped everything she understands about technology, systems, and who gets left out when those systems are built without the right people in the room.

In this episode Ashley traces the real story of Epic, the electronic health records system, used in most major hospitals in the United States. Founded in a basement in 1979 with $70,000 and three employees, Epic took over 40 years, billions of dollars in hospital investments, and failed implementations across multiple countries to become the standard of care it is today. Massachusetts General Hospital spent $1.2 billion on their rollout alone. In Norway, over 90% of doctors called it a threat to patient health one year after launch.

AI in healthcare is on the same arc. Except the data it learns from already carries the racial inequities embedded in our healthcare system. A 2019 study found that a clinical algorithm hospitals were using to determine which patients needed care showed racial bias Black patients had to be deemed significantly sicker than white patients to be recommended for the same level of care. One study found that correcting that bias could increase the percentage of Black patients receiving additional care from 17.7% to 46.5%.

Ashley is not on the sidelines of this conversation. She is in the room. And the Alliance for Black NICU Families and Glo Preemies will be part of making sure that when AI truly arrives, working and equitable and Black families are not still waiting at the door.

This episode is for every healthcare worker, advocate, NICU family, and community member who wants to understand what is coming and why representation in this moment matters more than ever.

You are invisible no more.

Glo Preemies: www.glopreemies.org 

Alliance for Black NICU Families: www.allianceforblacknicufamilies.org

Want to be a guest on Invisible or submit a question for our Signed, Sealed, and Delivered segment? Email us at [email protected]

Keywords: Black maternal health, health equity, AI in healthcare, Epic EHR, NICU families, Black NICU families, healthcare technology, preemie, maternal health advocacy, Glo Preemies, Alliance for Black NICU Families, Invisible podcast