Edition #23 - AI for Good
What it looks like when intelligence serves healing
By Mykel Salomon ·
🔓 Opening Reflection
We spend so much time talking about what AI might take.
Jobs. Tasks. Certainty. Control. Trust. Simplicity.
And some of those fears are valid.
But this week, I want to pause and ask a different question:
What happens when AI helps us heal?
What happens when it helps catch cancer earlier? When it helps people live with dementia more safely? When it helps overextended clinicians see patterns they would have otherwise missed? When it helps caregivers feel less alone?
Because if we only tell the story of AI as disruption, we miss the part that matters most:
Technology is not only a force that can automate. It can also be a force that protects, detects, supports, and restores.
This week’s edition is about that version of the future. Not naive. Not blind. Just honest enough to say that some of the most meaningful uses of AI may be the ones that help us care better for each other.
🔦 Signal of the Week
The need is real. The health burden is not abstract.
In the U.S., 7.2 million people age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia today, according to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2025 facts and figures.
The National Institute on Aging says it is actively supporting AI infrastructure, data resources, and research to improve the health and well-being of older adults and people affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
NIH also highlighted research showing that AI speech analysis predicted progression from cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s with over 78% accuracy.
On the cancer side:
A large real-world implementation study found AI-supported double reading in breast screening increased cancer detection without worsening recall rates.
Google Cloud has shared that Apollo Hospitals used AI models for tuberculosis and breast cancer screening, scaling to millions of screenings in a setting with limited radiology capacity.
Broad oncology reviews continue to show AI improving early detection, diagnostic support, treatment planning, and survival prediction across multiple cancer settings.
So yes, AI can create risk. But it can also create earlier intervention, better access, and more time, the one thing patients and families never feel they have enough of.
🌍 In the Wild
This is what “AI for good” looks like when it leaves the white paper and enters real life.
1) Cancer detection that sees sooner
In breast cancer screening, AI is increasingly being used as a support layer for radiologists, not a replacement. In large-scale real-world use, AI-supported screening has been linked to better detection while maintaining safety standards.
That matters because earlier detection is not just a medical win. It is a human one.
It can mean:
less aggressive treatment
more options
more time
more life
2) Dementia support that extends dignity
Digital health tools are being studied for screening, monitoring, and intervention in early cognitive change. Researchers note that these tools can support patients and caregivers with memory, safety, and daily functioning, even while the field is still developing.
This is why work like our friends at Memory Lane Games app matters. Because for families navigating dementia, “small” help is never small:
a memory cue
a prompt
a pattern noticed earlier
a little more confidence at home
Sometimes AI for good is not dramatic. Sometimes it is simply useful in a deeply human moment.
3) Aging research that uses AI to understand what humans miss
The National Institute on Aging is investing in AI because large datasets can reveal patterns in aging and dementia that humans alone may struggle to detect at scale.
Used responsibly, AI can become a partner in seeing sooner, understanding better, and acting earlier.
💬 The Big Question
If AI can help detect illness earlier, support memory, and reduce suffering, are we giving enough attention to the versions of this technology that actually make life more human?
And if not, what are we amplifying instead?
🧠 A Small Exercise
Take 10 minutes this week and write down your answers to these:
Where have I only been looking at AI through fear?
What is one health or caregiving challenge in my life or family where earlier insight would matter?
What would “AI for good” need to include for me to trust it?
Which matters more to me: replacing labor, or reducing suffering?
This is not a technical exercise. It is a values exercise.
Because the future of AI will not only be shaped by what it can do. It will be shaped by what we choose to prioritize.
🎙️ This Week’s Episode
Episode: AI for Good: Fighting Dementia with Dignity, Play, and Purpose Guest: Bruce Elliott
This week’s conversation centers on a version of AI we need more of: AI that supports human health, memory, dignity, and care.
We talk about:
why dementia support is one of the most human use cases for AI
how apps like Memory Lens can help patients and caregivers in everyday life
what it means to build technology that supports people without replacing human connection
why AI in health must be designed with trust, usability, and compassion in mind
how we can amplify the stories of builders using AI to reduce suffering, not just increase speed
This episode is a reminder that the future of AI does not have to be cold. It can be deeply human, if that is what we choose to build.
🎧 Available on:
🧭 Thought to End the Week
The most powerful use of intelligence is not domination. It is care.
If AI is going to shape the future, then let’s fight for the version that helps people remember, heal, detect sooner, and suffer less.
Not all progress should be measured in speed. Some of it should be measured in relief.
— Mykel