Health care isn’t the only industry realizing the challenges and benefits posed by advances in cognitive technologies, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI). But it is an industry quickly leveraging these cutting-edge advances, especially in the areas of research, diagnostics, treatment, and patient outcomes. Alarmists worry that smart machines will replace highly skilled practitioners in everyday health care encounters. They fear a depersonalized and invasive experience that could interfere with their health and personal lives.

Fantasy? Fiction? The future? In 2013 the movie “HER” was released in theaters featuring an AI operating system able to relate and integrate itself into the main character’s life so completely that he fell in love with her. With a year to reflect on this–and increasingly with an earpiece or headphones already in my ear from my phone or…