Australia's biggest AI-first startup is already saving lives
The rise of artificial intelligence can conjure an alarmist spectre of the robot apocalypse, but Harrison.ai is one example of how the technology can save lives.
Even if Australia has largely moved on from Covid, parts of our healthcare system have not. That much was made evident by Queensland Health when it revealed in late July that Gold Coast University Hospital had a backlog of 55,000 X-rays and scans waiting to be read.
A pandemic-induced 45% increase in X-rays over the past two years, plus an exodus of radiologists seeking higher pay in the private sector, led to the backlog. And it is not unique. Hospitals around the country are facing similar strains, in one case leading to a showdown between staff and management at Sydney’s Concord Hospital.
Dimitry Tran, 37, thinks his company can help. Two decades after being taught to code by their father in Vietnam, Dimitry and his 29-year-old brother Aengus created Harrison.ai, a company that’s become Australia’s biggest AI-first startup as measured by funding and employees. The brothers have two intertwined goals: expand healthcare capacity in wealthy countries and create it in poor ones.
“In a country like Australia, quite a rich country, we have 2000 radiologists for 20 million people,” said Dimitry Tran. “I recently met with the healthcare team in Malawi. They have two radiologists per 20 million people.”
