For Merck, AI Puts Humans In the "Right Room"

Humans in the loop.

That term has become the industry shorthand for assuring people nervous about AI’s increasing foothold in healthcare. There’s always someone watching over what AI does. We are there to make sure nothing goes awry. But the problem is that sometimes we may be in the way. So now, humans are faced with an interesting dilemma. To unleash the power of AI, sometimes we need to cede space. But then that may also be dangerous – what if something goes wrong?

Despite this Catch 22 vibe, healthcare companies like Merck are venturing forth, adopting generative AI and agentic AI tools — where the software has agency/power to take actions instead of simply surfacing information on which humans act — to tackle diseases. In a recent interview, Asheesh Chhabra, vice president and chi