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Empowering Longevity: How AI is Revolutionizing Health and Wellness
Empowering Longevity: How AI is Revolutionizing Health and Wellness
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- [00:00]
A
In today's episode, we focus on longevity not as a buzzword or a biohacking trend, but as a fundamental shift in how we think about health, prevention and care. In a system still largely designed to react to disease, AI presents an opportunity to move earlier, smarter, and more human. I'm joined by Guy Leitersdorf, who is the founder and CEO of Longevity AI. Longevity AI is powered by Florence, their clinical AI model designed to turn complex health data into clarity, helping care teams move beyond reacting to illness and toward actively building longer, healthier lives. Let's get into it.
- [00:48]
B
Welcome to lead with AI. I'm Dr. Tamara Nall. Each episode brings you behind the scenes conversations with brilliant minds advancing AI across the federal government. Together, we're exploring the projects and innovations, modernizing public service, and creating meaningful change for the American people. Let's get started.
- [01:14]
A
So welcome back, everyone, to lead with AI. I'm your host, Dr. T. And I am so excited about today's episode because who doesn't want to live forever? Healthy, that is. So before we get started, before I interview our guests, I just want to say thank you to all of you who listen every week. Because of you, we hit number one in technology on Apple podcast last year, as well as winning the W3 Gold Award for guests and interviews. And it is all because of you as our supporters and of course, our wonderful guest, such as the one that we have today. So let's say hello to Guy Leitersdorf, who is the founder and CEO of Longevity AI. How are you, Guy?
- [01:59]
C
Excellent. So happy to be here, Dr. T. Thank you for having me.
- [02:03]
A
Absolutely. And very, very happy to have you. So let's get into it. Tell us about who you are, what are your core values? What are you passionate about? And how did you come up with the idea of Longevity AI?
- [02:18]
C
So I guess I'm a tech geek and I love to look at data and see how I can help us live better. So my background is creating AI for ads. Sorry about that. For all the ads I tailored to you. Looking at looking at billions of people and what can we add? Can we serve you? So you can click here or download that, but with great power comes great responsibility and thinking. How can I deliver people, people with a thing that will actually agree to do, but that's also good for them. So out of a personal encounter that unfortunately my father was diagnosed very late with lung cancer when it was too late to do anything, even though we had the best doctors. So, you know, I really started wondering, what data do we have? Clinical data, lifestyle data that can really help us live longer, happier, healthier. How can we empower doctors? How can we empower people to do that?
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A
Wow, that's amazing. So sorry to hear that about your, your father. But I've always been told with great pain comes great breakthrough. So thank you, thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that. So tell us, in summary, what is Longevity AI?
- [03:37]
C
So you know, it's funny, when we first founded the company, longevity wasn't a word and AI was a hype. But here we are, A lot of people actually care about their health. They want to feel better, they want to function better, but they want to do it in a way which is correct and true and scientific, not just driven out of hype. So we thought the best way to do it is who do we trust with medical advice? Our doctors. So we wanted to take from the perspective, the lens of clinical medicine, but connect it to our day to day lives and see what is it that the doctor would love for me to do and that I will actually enjoy doing. Nobody likes homework. So the point is we're serving doctors. We're giving them a tool that no longer, you know, look at the doctor's screen next time you visit. Looks like a Windows 95 ever updated. So we give them a powerful tool that is clinical grade, that's a real differentiator. Florence, our AI, she knows all the clinical evidence ever written and the protocols of your doctor. And then it enables them just to have a great conversation with you and understand what is it that it's the next clinical step. But most importantly, when you're coming home, instead of feeling puzzled or scared or overwhelmed, well, you know, your biological ages, you know which system is aging the fastest and you want to address it. But most importantly, that one, two thing, that's your new health protocol that you love and for once, it's approved by a doctor.
- [05:04]
A
Wow, that is absolutely amazing. So give us an example of where a user, customer, patient actually use Longevity AI and it changed everything for him or her.
- [05:18]
C
So, you know, it's amazing to see such cases where people are coming, they're coming for their annual. We're working with a great partner called senegenix in States 20 clinic. Christy, the CEO, she's an amazing woman with a beautiful vision and she really hones into that. You know, we go to a doctor because we trust them and we want to have this personal relationship. But doctors these days, they expect to be empowered. They expect not to have like a blank table and fill in some things that they heard. They want to have a Co clinician that can really get that forward and that's what patients are really wanting. So, you know, if we take my family for example, the moment we understand that we're generally healthy, but you know, the, the heart might be aging faster than the other, like metabolic, immune, cognition. And then you can see, okay, with some classic clinical standard it would have been not the glucose, the hypertension, but you know, a classic Dr. GP, classic AI GPT. So they would tell you, okay, so do the 150 minutes recommended at the gym a week. But it's 20, 26. It's time I doctor in my eye know what I do. So it's not a good advice for me because I never went to the gym. But what if I walk this extra 2000 steps I used to walk until recently? It's half the risk of my main health topic, which is the heart in that case. And that's the single most important thing I can do that I actually love. So I think the aha moment is when you find that one thing that really resonates with you and your doctor said, you know what? That's the thing I recommend.
- [07:01]
A
Wow, that, that's amazing. And tell us about a time because of course you are the founder and CEO. Tell us about a time where you heard another story, another example, and you got goosebumps. You were like, oh my gosh, did I really build this out? Is this really happening?
- [07:20]
C
Yeah, absolutely. So I, I saw a case of a patient and at some point they were so excited that they reached out personally and thanked the company, thank the team and want to have a chat. And that was somebody that their family had diabetes and they were so, you know, people are getting overwhelmed with life. You know, you work hard, you want to make sure you're successful, you take care of the kids and sometimes you just forget to pay attention to your body, to pay attention to your own, you know, health as well. It's your own success. And that person, even though all the potential signals, well there did not know that in one year they're going to become diabetic. They had no clue that they're pre diabetic right now.
- [08:08]
A
Yeah.
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C
Half of Americans or diabetic or pre diabetic, most of the pre diabetic don't know it. And most doctors are only looking for now they're not looking for what happens in a year. And that person, she told me she changed her entire lifestyle. She changed what she eats, she changed how she sleeps. Sleeping regularly really helps you curb your one for sugars. So it's not one thing that she changed. She really had a new lens over life. And one by one she introduced new things that her doctors said. And she told me that she could not imagine what would have happened to her life, to her ability to spend a long time with her kids. If you not know that in one year she would have been diabetic. And that's a life changer, unfortunately for many people.
- [08:59]
A
Wow. Wow. So how does it work? So if we were to lift up the hood and look at the brain of longevity AI, how does it work? How is it training data? Where is the data coming from and how am. What is my experience as a user?
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C
So, you know, we are very lucky. We are having the largest longitudinal medical database of the world. We're doing it with three major partners that hold millions of medical records three decades long. And you know, when you're talking to doctors and when consumers want to know this is scientific, one point in time is often suggesting correlation and not causation. When you have two medical records and you track it over time, you can see how fast are the aging of the heart, the metabolic, the immune, the cognition, it's causal. So you know, Sam Bezos, a lot of those would love to have this database because what AI does best is learn from the big data and when we know how to connect it to the different systems of the aging and we know how to build this framework of evidence based medicine. Florence, our AI, by the way, she's named after Florence Nightingale, that famous nurse that layered statistics for doctors and said, you know what, it's not a bad idea to wash hands between patients. She taught us that. So layering in some statistics for doctors just at the right time is what she's doing. So she's well versed in the biggest database of the world. She's well versed in all the clinical evidence ever written. You know, but it's really interesting to think what should go in there. Every piece of the picture or it needs to be recreated at least once in the last decade. Authored by the authors of clinical procedures and it needs to be published on a journal with a high impact factor like Nature. So when she knows how to connect the dots, but only clinical gray dots, when she has the power of big data that nobody else has, this, this is basically the edge. And what does she do? She connects. She connects to your apple health, to your watch, to your ring, to your bed, if you have a smart bed, to your clinical records, to the genetic lab. And yes, she connects also to several GPTs. You know, each time we have a new great PR. This is ChatGPT Health and now Gemini doing it. Now Proparty is doing it. Know what doctors really need? They need a system that can harmonize all of it.
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A
Yes.
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C
It's not about this Fitbit and it's not about this genetic test that is really the newest and best to know. Well, well, if their gene is not absorbing as good, what can I do about it in my lifestyle? And let me get coached by a GPT that is currently at the peak performance on that angle. And they compete with each other very well and usually at the same time, some of them perform better in different angles. Doctors don't want to be their own CDO and consumers definitely don't want to be their own doctors because that's why there's a doctor you trust. You want to be well versed for the doctor. You want to have your doctor's guidelines in 2am when you're thinking what to eat, when you're snapping a shot for your restaurant of a menu of a restaurant. So you want your doctor's advice, but you really want to be independent and you really want to have the full power of all the tools, the GPTs of the world. So what Florence really does well, she harmonizes all these data clinical grade for doctors. We're the only company that is saving more than half the time for doctors.
- [12:32]
A
Wow.
- [12:32]
C
And if you think about it, speaking of what we deliver, so a doctor, what's, what's her key responsibility? Manage our risk. How can you possibly do it if you only have one angle? It could be the best algorithm for the heart or the best thing that can get you running or the best way to prepare for a doctor visit. But that's not the complete and accurate picture about my health. And if it's not complete or it's not accurate, doctors wouldn't use it. It will be more information that will take save time. So where that one solution from your doctor and then on the app on your phone, you know, thinking what you're doing for consumers. Think of the apps that survive the taste, the test of time on your phone. Right. One from your banker, probably one from your health provider. We take it for granted that the app of the bank has all my bank details. We take it for granted that the app from the doctor has all my clinical records. I trust it. I'm not sure if I swipe right and get all my clinical records, all my lifestyle data, where I slept last night, to 5 GPTs at once. But what if we have Florence, your trusted AI that is actually working for you. It's not working for an ad revenue model, not working for the bottom line of SAM or others. And they can harmonize the full power. You have this mix, you have it from your doctor trusted AI data that nowhere else about medical data in my data. And the real value is it can just be sure that this is the right advice. This is the most powerful thing we can give consumer to empower them to know that the next advice is something they can trust and that they love.
- [14:15]
A
And you had mentioned you have three or four major partnerships. So is your tech direct to consumer or do I have to go through a certain provider network?
- [14:26]
C
So we are very proud to be working with doctors to empower them to give the best care for consumers. So this is what we're very proud of. And we believe that if you want to deliver trusted care, that's the only way. So we're working with our partners. And by the way, sometimes they extend the app even before the visit. So there is a consumer experience, but by the provider that you trust.
- [14:51]
A
Got it. All right, perfect. Okay, that's very, very helpful. So basically, providers use Florence AI to all of this data, consume it, and then provide better healthcare recommendations for their patients.
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C
Exactly.
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A
Awesome. Okay, good. I got it, I got it, I got it. Now, how do you think about ethics and the ethical crosswords you're dealing with so much clinical data, medical records. How have you as a founder thought about ethics?
- [15:27]
C
It's a very good question. You know, what if I asked our listeners, we can all imagine what a good person is. We can think of some good qualities we appreciate in people and some qualities we rather to be left out. If we're talking about a good person, a good friend, a good family member. What if I ask you what makes AI good AI? So I can think of what it might not be. Well, coming from the ad tech industry, trying to sell you anything for their maximum expected revenue, the bottom line of that company, the bottom line of McDonald's, Coca Cola. Nothing wrong with their brands, but they're not working for you. They're working for McDonald's, Coca Cola, Alpha Musk. There's a bottom line at X and it's ad revenue. Follow the money. Look at their budgets, look at their earnings. They make it from ads. So you are the product. It's not working for you. So first and foremost, we are building thorns to work for you. Now the next question, not what it's not what it should be. What is a good goal if you're working for me? So working for me, if I want Florence to really help me from a medical perspective, and basically from all perspective, Florence wants you to have a good life. Happy people live longer, by the way. That's why it's important to include things you love doing all right, even if it's not exactly the best healthy right thing. You need to be happy.
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A
It's important.
- [16:56]
C
So Voice is really here to optimize the expected healthy years, but mind and body and happiness and you know, when, when an ad finds you, it's the best expected interaction, having the best expected interaction from the pool of thing their doctor would have loved for you to do. And that's the algorithm. It's as simple as that. You know, people think that Ed finds it so complicated. No, you take a thousand people like you that made similar choices. Guess what? Fork in the road you would like to take the same one. So we want to filter the things that your doctor would love for you to do. Is it the heart, is it the metabolic, is it the immune? You know, we don't want a thousand healthy habits. We want the one that's the most effective. And then, you know, the restaurant, let's grab good advice at the restaurant that your doctor would have advised you. So what makes good AI? AI that works for you, not for an advertiser. An AI that gets me, that's optimizing for my health span and that optimizing for alleviating any stress or my functionality right now and generating things that I love interacting with. And by definition, it cannot be by a bottom line of any company, including longevity AI, it has to be for the health. And this is why we're so proud to work by doctors, because this is the stamp. You trust a doctor. And we're making sure we're serving them with the best, best ethics and integrity and clinical standards according to the way they define it. Your story about the definition of clinical standards.
- [18:30]
A
Sure, go ahead.
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C
So, you know, we're working with clients in the US and Canada and you can, you can have a road trip going from US to Canada and become diabetic on the border because the regulator have different definitions of what does it mean, trans matter. And they're consistent. You know, humans are humans, but our regulatory environment is different. And people in Montreal or New York eat different food, breathe different air, have different standards of care. And Florence knows how to adapt to the regulator so your doctor can stand behind it, but also what the culture appropriate thing to suggest so you will actually enjoy it.
- [19:14]
A
Got it. Oh, that's amazing. And I learned something. But I mean, it's something that, if I actually thought about it, I probably would have got to. But it is interesting how, you know, even state to state, but definitely country to country, right? There are different regulations and your status could change across a number of different areas, even, you know, with health. So that's great. Now, what do you see as the future of Florence AI? Like, if you had to think, okay, it's 2030 now, what and how will Florence AI power and change the world?
- [19:48]
C
That is such an interesting question. And I have to say, if there's one thing that keeps me awake at night is that how do we create a future? I think we can all agree faster, slower, the future is more AI powered. Everything we're going to do, write an email and go to the grocery shop, go to the doctor, go to work, it will be AI enabled, AI powered to some extent and to an increasing level. So what does it mean to have AI helping us? And which AI should I trust? Which AIs are going to be another tool, another app that gets specific permission to perform the tasks? And WeChat are going to be my core, my, if you will, the AI store where I trust and then I can deliver safely the information. Now, most companies, most people don't want their health records to be with the best 10 AIs, right? And that and this provider and that app and that function. But what if we have one trusted source that we know that it's clinical grade, we know that it's working for me, it has the stamp of my doctor. But now I can get great nutritional advice, swap that. No, I didn't like it. Let's go for a different one. I don't have to think that my medical data is now with a hundred hands. One of them is probably not working for me if I'm kind about it. So the way I see the future is that we have tools, we have many tools. Basically anything will going to be AI powered. There'll be going to be AI inside everything. People will stop saying there's AI because it's going to be obvious. I think the next evolution of technology, the next era of AI leaders, is going to be the AI that earns the rights to be my core, to be my untrusted AI, that is using the others as tools. And this is why we put such a good emphasis and important effort not to just do another consumer hype. That's why from your doctor, to gain rightfully that trust, right?
- [21:59]
A
Oh, I love that. That is the future powered by Florence AI. That is absolutely amazing. Now, you know, my listeners are very curious people. They like to get their hands dirty if they want to experience Florence AI, like this week, next week, what's the best way to do that?
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C
So I have a scoop for you.
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A
Okay.
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C
On March 1st, we're going to launch the first opportunity to experience Florence AI as a consumer. And then you can choose the doctor you want to experience it with. So it's going to work the other way around. It's still going to be via a doctor, but consumers can have the first interaction. So we're going to serve a hundred seats for the first people who are going to connect with the Dr. T link. So that's what we're going to do for people.
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A
Amazing. And where do they, what website do they go to? What app do they download? How does that happen? What's the process?
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C
So we're going to the website longevity-AI.com and we'll have a specific code that we will publish for Dr. T and people can enjoy Florence and then they can take it to their doctor and become empowered.
- [23:07]
A
Awesome. Well, y' all heard it here first. Thank you for that special gift for my listeners. I appreciate that. So y' all heard it first the first week in March, March 1, which actually is my birthday, by the way. Amazing.
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C
See, it was meant to be. Florence knew that. I. I guess she told me the subconscious somehow.
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A
Yeah. There we go. What a. What a wonderful, wonderful birthday gift. So y' all heard it first and you'll be able to be some of the first to be able to use Longevity AI Florence AI as a consumer. So thank you so much for that. I really, really appreciate that. God, thank you.
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C
Thank you. Dottie.
- [23:43]
A
Yes. So I have a portion of the discussion that is from one genius to another. You're obviously a genius because you're here on the show. And our previous genius has a question for you. And that question is, if you could recommend two to three tools that are not chatgpt that could benefit our listeners, what would be your top picks?
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C
Interesting. You know, in the team, we're having a group of really talented people that think about it every day. How can we harmonize AI and create one unified experience? So obviously, ChatGPT, let's put it aside. Gemini is doing a great job with medical information and clinical grade advice, but it works. And you need that layer of Florence above it to harmonize it. And just recently, Perplexity released also a health feature. So people that want to get the empowerment of all of them and more to come that will actually, I'm sure, there will be somewhere that will pop up very soon. They can go to Florence and get it harmonized, but I actually encourage them to test it out and see the difference with the layer of Florence and without. Gemini is one of my favorites.
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A
Awesome. All right, well, I appreciate that. So very well answered. So let's move to our bonus rapid fire. I'm going to ask you 44 questions and just give me the first answer that comes to mind.
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C
Sounds good.
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A
Start with what is the most overrated AI or tech trend
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C
AI is going to replace Dr. Complete false. I think people want to get treated by people. They want to get advice by people. They want a trusted source. What's missing in the AI industry today, if you think about it, is trust. I need to trust that answer. When I'm dealing with my health, I want to have something concrete. I can't imagine somebody having a major health challenge and saying, well, I'll leave it up to chance. Maybe it's examination, maybe it's not. So I think AI is here to empower us. Empower doctors, empower consumers, empower the system to get better health. But we will always need doctors to harmonize it for us.
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A
Awesome. Okay, and then what's the most underrated AI or tech trend?
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C
I think the most underrated one is the ability to orchestrate. I think that everybody wants to be that one single point solution, but it's not about that. Talking to people, to friends, to doctors. They don't want to commit to one AI tool. They want one that has their values. But then it should underneath. I should be able to choose and plug and play which tool I want today and which not. So I think orchestration is the most underappreciated trend these days.
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A
Okay, what about a book we should all read?
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C
Ah, a book about you. Once you get all your clinical data and your lifestyle data in an instant, create a book fully just about you. And if you want a clinical grade, well, your doctor can now deliver you one.
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A
Oh, I love that. Okay, first time hearing that. Love it. Due to Florence AI and wow us, shock us, surprise us. What is your biggest, boldest AI prediction?
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C
I think that the world is not going to become VR as they said, virtual reality. I think the world is going to become augmented reality, but everything is going to happen on device edge computing. So one thing, push aside all those VR glasses. It's cool, it's fun, but I think the future is real life but augmented. Getting the supplement of great AI. And I think if we're going to move from huge cloud infrastructures that could still be somewhat relevant. People are going to care about trust and privacy, that it's working for them. That data, especially sensitive data, is staying on device with me, not communicated to an AI that is not necessarily in my favor. So it's going to be super powerful AI right from my phone, augmenting my reality.
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A
Awesome. That's amazing. I love that. Yeah, I feel like there's only. So there's only so much time. You can wear those.
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C
Yeah, I love that situation here.
- [28:09]
A
Yeah, absolutely. God, I have so enjoyed this conversation. It is fascinating with you and the team are doing, I mean, longevity in and of itself. I mean, I agree with you now, in the beginning, people, I have been asked, so my father wants to live until 120 and that's whatever number he came up with. And I'm like, no, thank you. No, thank you at all. You know, once I'm not able to do for myself, just take me to where, you know, take me to heaven. But I am encouraged because of what longevity is doing in a way that you're like, yes, let's live long lives. Let's live it in a healthy way. So thank you for what you're doing for the world. Thank you for all the innovation, for your tech background, and for taking this time to share the power of Florence AI with our listeners. Thank you so much for being here.
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C
Thank you, Dr. T. Such a pleasure.
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A
Absolutely. All right, everyone. So until next time, remember to lead with AI.
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B
Thank you for joining us on Lead with AI. I'll see you next time as we continue bringing you stories that matter in public sector innovation.