AI gives a lawmaker her voice back

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Jul 18, 2024 View in browser   By Carmen Paun, Daniel Payne, Ruth Reader, Erin Schumaker and Toni Odejimi WASHINGTON WATCH Wexton is speaking again, thanks to AI. | AP ​​Artificial intelligence is giving a member of Congress her voice back. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy last year, a condition she called “Parkinson’s on steroids.” The rare brain disorder has affected the volume and clarity of her speech and her mobility. It also led to her decision to leave Congress at the end of this term. Recently, she’s used a text-to-speech app to deliver remarks on the House floor, in committees and during public engagements. “This will be a big upgrade from the robotic-sounding text-to-speech app I’ve been using over the past few months,” she said in a video announcing her AI voice. How it works: Wexton and her team compiled old clips of her public speeches to generate an AI model of her voice before progressive supranuclear palsy began affecting it. ElevenLabs, a company developing natural-sounding speech synthesis software using AI, built the model. Wexton can now input a speech or type something into an AI interface to get an automatically generated audio mimicking her voice, said her communications director, Justin McCartney. Why it matters: Wexton hopes the technology will help more people with disabilities express themselves. “I hope that this new step of adopting an AI voice model can also be a moment to start a conversation about new and creative ways we can continue to empower people facing the kinds of health and accessibility issues as I have, and to show that our abilities do not define who we are," she said in a statement. Even so: Wexton is also aware of the technology’s risks if it’s used by someone with bad intentions, she told The Washington Post. She’s limited who can access the AI voice app to avoid any problems that could come from someone using it to say something without her consent, she said.   The CNN-POLITICO Grill has quickly become a key gathering place for policymakers and thought-leaders attending the RNC in Milwaukee. On Tuesday, POLITICO and Bayer convened two conversations: a discussion with Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) and an executive conversation with Bayer’s Jessica Christiansen, senior vice president and head of crop science and sustainability communications. The conversations focused on the news of the day in Milwaukee, including deeper discussion centered on the critical challenges faced by the agriculture sector. CATCH UP HERE     WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Monhegan Island, Maine | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. A man with a brain implant that helps him control his laptop and cellphone told CNBC that artificial intelligence has further enhanced his ability to communicate. The 64-year-old said he’s impressed by how often an AI chat feature from the San Francisco firm OpenAI knows what he would usually say in conversation, including the occasional curse, according to the report. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com, or Toni Odejimi at aodejimi@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.  POLICY PUZZLE Finding doctors willing to work with opioid users remains a challenge. | AFP via Getty Images Lawmakers are on a quest to break down barriers that keep most people with substance use disorders from getting the treatment they need. But lifting regulatory restrictions, as Congress did in late 2022 when it removed a training requirement for doctors to prescribe buprenorphine, which helps people who use fentanyl resist taking it, isn’t enough to increase access to treatment. A review of nearly 300 studies from the past 60 years, led by researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open, explored the reasons behind the reluctance of some physicians to treat addiction. The analysis found that most doctors say they lack: — Support from their employers, resulting in insufficient staff or training and challenges related to organizational culture and competing demands. This reason appeared in 81 percent of the reviewed studies. — Know-how, which came in second, appearing in about 74 percent of the studies. “Physicians reported lacking skills to conduct interventions effective enough to produce behavior change, including counseling and brief intervention,” the study reported. That also extended to lacking skills to initiate or manage treatment, particularly for substances other than alcohol and tobacco. — Cognitive capacity, which was generally characterized as doctors feeling too busy. In some cases, the physicians thought that treating addiction would be too time-consuming or were concerned that the demand for treatment would be too large for them to handle, the study found. — Certainty about how much they’d get paid for their work. Why it matters: With fatal drug overdoses still near record highs, health officials are eager to understand how to improve and expand access to treatment. Increasing the number of doctors and facilities providing addiction treatment is part of the effort, and understanding why providers are hesitant to do so is an important step in coming up with solutions. Dr. Nora Volkow, the National Institute on Drug Abuse director, said in a statement that “clinicians across all medical disciplines need greater training, resources, and support in caring for people with addiction, so that they feel prepared to proactively offer prevention, screening, treatment, harm reduction, and other tools that can help save lives.”   Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more.     OPERATING TABLE European drug regulators have issued a warning about popular weight-loss drugs. | Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP People using weight-loss or diabetes drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro should inform surgeons about their use before they go under general anesthesia, the European Medicines Agency is warning. Why’s that? The class of drugs prescribed to people with diabetes or obesity is known as GLP-1 receptor agonists. They regulate blood sugar levels and suppress appetite. The drugs act by slowing down the process of emptying food from the stomach. But that means someone who has fasted for surgery might not have an empty stomach by the time they get to the operating table. That could lead to a rare complication called aspiration, our European colleagues report, in which the stomach contents rise back up into the throat and can potentially cause pneumonia. Last year, the American Society of Anesthesiologists said that patients using the weight-loss and diabetes drugs should stop before going under anesthesia. Even so: The European regulators said they hadn’t found a causal link between the drugs and aspiration.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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