I don’t have access to Forbes, so I’m relying on this LinkedIn message from Certuma:
“We raised $10M in seed funding led by 8VC to build the first FDA-approved AI doctor.”
The way that sentence is worded, it sounds like the goal is to have the FDA approve a doctor who can…well, doctor. Like my fictional Dr. Jones. (See the 2013 version in tymshft.)
““I don’t mind answering the question,” replied the friendly voice, “and I hope you don’t take my response the wrong way, but I’m not really a person as you understand the term. I’m actually an application within the software package that runs the medical center. But my programmers want me to tell you that they’re really happy to serve you, and that Stanford sucks.” The voice paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, Edith. You have to forgive the programmers – they’re Berkeley grads.””
But Certuma’s website tells a more cautionary story in which the “AI doctor” is NOT in control.
“Certified clinical decisions at machine speed. Physician-verified and fully auditable.”
And the workflow indicates that this “doctor” is more like an intern, or even a student.
“Certuma routes every in-scope plan through physician verification. That workflow is the point: fast turnaround without removing accountability….
“Red flags, contraindications, interaction checks, scope limits, and uncertainty thresholds run through the deterministic verification layer. If something is emergent or out of scope, the system escalates instead of guessing.
“Clinicians see structured intake, highlighted risks, and a draft plan with supporting evidence. They approve, edit, or escalate; changes are captured with reason codes and a durable audit trail.”
Now there is clearly some benefit in having the bots grind out the plan, provided that the bots don’t hallucinate. There are potential time savings, and a real doctor reviews the final results.
But an “AI doctor” who can doctor independently is NOT on the horizon.
At least not yet.
Bredemarket 