What do you take away from a full day at a conference when you head home in the evening? For Sassan Sangsari, it was a thought from Prof. Dr. Alena Buyx’s keynote address at the Healthcare Industry Conference. Officially, the topic was AI in medicine, but by the end, he wasn’t thinking about technology at all—instead, he was thinking about light and shadow...
The 2026 Healthcare Industry Conference at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce addressed many topics related to the future—from digitalization to AI in medicine. However, the idea that stayed with me after the conference came from the keynote address by Prof. Dr. Alena Buyx.
She spoke about the dual-use nature of medical AI. Technologies that can cure diseases or decipher genetic defects also generate knowledge that can be misused.
As I listened, at some point I stopped thinking about AI altogether.
I couldn’t help but think of light and shadow.
We almost automatically focus on the light—on better diagnoses, new therapies, and a better quality of life. That is exactly why we drive innovation forward.
But every light casts a shadow.
The greater the medical progress, the greater our responsibility for the knowledge we bring into the world. Once knowledge is gained, it cannot be taken back. This made me think of Dürrenmatt’s *The Physicists*—and the uncomfortable realization that some thoughts change the world simply by being thought.
Perhaps responsible innovation means exactly that: not fearing the shadow, but taking it into account from the very beginning.
For me, that was the most valuable insight of the day.
About the Author

Sassan Sangsari holds degrees in medicine and philosophy. Through his work with ARIC, he is deepening his understanding of artificial intelligence in medicine. He is the point person for topics related to AI in medicine and AI sandboxes.


