AI Scams Are Getting Nasty, and Healthcare AI Has a Big Unanswered Question

We’re in a new era of AI-driven scams

When ChatGPT dropped in late 2022, it didn’t take long for cybercriminals to realize they could use generative AI to write convincing phishing emails. That was just the beginning. Since then, they’ve moved on to turbocharged phishing, hyperrealistic deepfakes, and automated vulnerability scans. AI makes these attacks faster, cheaper, and easier to pull off, and the volume is already overwhelming many organizations.

The problem is only going to get worse as more criminals adopt these tools and the tech itself improves. Rhiannon Williams has a full breakdown of how AI is reshaping cybercrime, and it’s not a cheerful read. This is one of those “10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now” items that actually matters — not just hype for a newsletter.

Meanwhile, in healthcare, AI is being deployed everywhere. Doctors use it for notetaking. Algorithms trawl through patient records to flag people who might need certain treatments. AI interprets medical exam results and X-rays. A growing pile of studies suggests these tools can deliver accurate results. But here’s the question nobody seems to be answering: Does any of this actually translate into better health outcomes for patients?

Jessica Hamzelou digs into that gap in The Checkup, and the answer so far is: we don’t know. Accuracy doesn’t automatically mean usefulness. A tool can correctly identify a condition but still fail to change how a patient recovers, especially if it leads to unnecessary follow-ups or if doctors don’t trust it enough to act on its findings. That’s a pretty big blind spot for a field that’s moving so fast.

Elsewhere, DeepSeek finally unveiled its long-awaited new model — preview versions of DeepSeek-V4 are out. The company claims it’s the most powerful open-source platform and that it rivals top closed-source models from OpenAI and DeepMind. Notably, it’s adapted for Huawei chip technology, which is a strategic move given the chip restrictions China faces. More countries are also moving to curb children’s social media access: Norway is enforcing a ban, the Philippines could follow, and in the US, there’s growing pushback against AI in schools.

None of this is slowing down, and the gap between what AI can do and what we actually know about its real-world impact is widening.