Wow! eBook
A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future
Author(s): Robert Wachter (Author)
- Publisher: Portfolio
- Publication Date: 3 Feb. 2026
- Language: English
- Print length: 352 pages
- ISBN-10: B0F7G3216X
- ISBN-13: 9798217044245
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
— John Halamka, MD, MS, President, Mayo Clinic Platform and Professor, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science
“Robert Wachter has done it again. A Giant Leap is a masterclass in clarity and insight. Yes, AI is poised to reshape healthcare in ways that are profound, practical, and deeply human. But Wachter combines rigorous analysis with vivid storytelling — a real page-turner — making this essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of medicine.”
— Peter Lee, President and Head of Microsoft Research
“A first-hand account of the breathtaking possibilities and sobering challenges of AI in medicine. Comprehensive and deeply engaged, Wachter embraces progress while challenging readers to grapple with the biggest questions. What does a healing relationship look like when your doctor isn’t human? When AI can pinpoint a diagnosis in seconds, will future physicians feel unmoored without the technology at their fingertips? A Giant Leap is a book that thinks alongside you–and demands you think back.”
— Sherry Turkle, MIT Professor and New York Times bestselling author of The Second Self, Alone Together and Reclaiming Conversation
“Bob Wachter has crafted the perfect entry point for anyone curious about AI’s role in healthcare. Through vivid storytelling and captivating real-world characters, Wachter grapples with the urgent questions that will shape medicine’s future. How should we regulate AI technology in healthcare? What are the dangers of moving too fast–or too slow? Most critically, what values should AI embody and who gets to decide? Before reading this, I wasn’t all that interested in AI; now I can’t look away.”
— Lisa Rosenbaum, MD, National Correspondent, New England Journal of Medicine; Writer in Residence, BIDMC Smith Center
“A Giant Leap is a deeply researched, unflinchingly honest, and ultimately hopeful analysis of how AI will transform healthcare and the systems, cultures, incentives, and human choices that will determine whether the technology becomes a force for good or a source of new risks. We are at an inflection point in healthcare where AI is challenging us not just to adopt new tools, but to reimagine care itself. Wachter is neither an AI evangelist nor a doomsayer. He is a steward, guiding us through the promise and perils with a clinician’s rigor and perspective. He has done what very few can: synthesize the technical, clinical, economic, and ethical dimensions of AI in healthcare into a story that’s urgent and accessible. It is an essential read.”
— Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst
“A Giant Leap is a wonderfully engaging, lucid, and essential guide to how AI is transforming healthcare. Wachter expertly lays out the enormous benefits of generative AI alongside its most worrisome potential pitfalls–and they’re not the obvious concerns like bias and hallucinations that dominate headlines. Whether you’re a patient, doctor, or nurse, if you want to understand how generative AI will revolutionize your healthcare experience in the coming decade, Wachter is your indispensable pilot.”
— Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and Co-Director of the Health Transformation Institute, University of Pennsylvania
“Tech is the easy part. People, incentives, and workflows are where dreams go to die–or flourish. A Giant Leap masterfully captures these dynamics, delivering this era’s definitive guide to healthcare AI.”
— Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and founder of Khosla Ventures
