Arianna Huffington and Regina Barzilay discuss the future of health at the Museum of Science

On the evening of Thursday, April 10, over 250 members of the general public gathered for the Boston Museum of Science’s Lee & Albright Annual Symposium, which featured Thrive Global CEO and co-founder of the Huffington Post Arianna Huffington in conversation with MIT Jameel Clinic AI Faculty Lead Regina Barzilay. The conversation was moderated by the Museum of Science’s inaugural Director of the Center for Life Sciences Insoo Hyun, and focused on the ongoing developments in the field of artificial intelligence both in industry and research.

During the conversation, Barzilay shared how her experience with breast cancer led her to develop Mirai, a deep learning model that predicts 5-year breast cancer risk from a mammogram. Huffington spoke about her new Thrive app, which uses evidence-based approaches to help people de-stress and disconnect from their smartphone.

While answering audience members’ questions, both women discussed their vision for AI and using the technology to help modify unhealthy behaviors. “People are suffering,” Barzilay said. “We can do something.”