Open-source AI is transforming healthcare outcomes by enabling important innovations in medical technology and healthcare research. Open-source AI models, like Llama, are available for free for organisations to use, modify, and build upon, making this critical technology more accessible than commercial models, Meta said on Monday.
Also Read: Novo Nordisk and Valo Health Expand AI Partnership for Drug Discovery
According to Meta, this is enabling "Important innovations in medical technology, healthcare research and related sectors, helping researchers make crucial advancements to solve intractable problems." Meta shared a few examples of companies using Llama's open-source technology to create a healthier future.
1. Zauron Labs
Meta highlighted Zauron Labs' Guardian AI, which double-checks radiological imaging exams and reports to identify errors, improving healthcare outcomes. "People don't realize that there are around 3 billion medical imaging exams done per year with a 3-5 percent error rate," says radiologist Kal Clark. "That's millions of patients."
When such errors occur, treatments may be delayed, illnesses may persist, and patients may face worse long-term health outcomes, Meta said, adding, "Open-source AI models have the potential to substantially reduce those errors."
"With Meta's Llama, we're able to collaborate with universities and build the Guardian AI tool to double-check for errors. It's like a spell checker for radiologists," says Clark, Vice Chair of Informatics at the University of Texas Health San Antonio and co-founder of Zauron Labs.
Llama has enabled Zauron Labs to open up development across health systems.
Also Read: AMD Invests in Absci to Accelerate AI-Driven Drug Discovery
2. Mendel
Another example cited by Meta is Mendel's Hypercube, an AI platform that helps health and science organizations draw insights from patient data using a chat-like tool built on open-source AI, including Llama.
One of Hypercube's key functions is trial matching and patient cohorting, crucial in clinical trials, where failure to meet enrollment targets is a common issue. Llama helps speed up the process—turning what typically takes hundreds of days into just one—making new treatments faster to bring to market.
"Studies have shown that it takes hundreds of days to match patients with a clinical trial. Hypercube can do it in one day," says Wael Salloum, Founder and Chief Science Officer at Mendel.
Open-source AI gives companies access to what Salloum calls "breakthrough technology." "Using Meta's open-source AI, Llama, Hypercube allows healthcare companies to organize their data on their own cloud, creating a secure and searchable knowledge base," adds Salloum, according to Meta.
Additionally, Meta says developers and researchers can work with AI models directly on their own devices, meaning sensitive health data doesn't need to leave their premises, bolstering security and control—a key consideration for sectors dealing with personal, private data.
According to Meta, the broader economic benefits could be enormous, potentially adding USD 2.8 trillion to the US GDP by 2040 due to better health outcomes across communities.
Also Read: AI Can Transform Healthcare: Tata Sons Chairman
Here are some more stories and innovations in healthcare, education, and entrepreneurship driven by open-source AI, particularly Llama, as highlighted by Meta in December 2024:
Health and Science:
City of Hope
At the City of Hope National Medical Center, researchers are using LLMs to build tools for cancer doctors, including a tool that matches cancer patients with relevant clinical trials.
"Medicine is one of the best, most urgent applications for LLMs, given the scale and sensitivity of the text data generated in the clinic," said Kingson Man, Principal Data Scientist at City of Hope.
Gene Outlook
OtonoCo uses open-source LLMs to power a platform that accelerates data extraction and insight discovery in genomics, particularly for cancer patients. OtonoCo has also developed an organism-aware LLM on top of Llama called GeneTuned LLM and is expanding Gene Outlook to include areas like gut health and the microbiome.
"With open-source, we don't have to worry about creating a new AI algorithm. We can just focus on the problem and work backwards to see what open-source technology is suitable to solve that problem," says Jong Hang Siong, Founder and Chairman of OtonoCo, according to Meta.
Education
DLYog Lab
Founded by Tarun Chawdhury and Mousumi Chawdhury, DLYog Lab created an app that helps generate Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for children with special needs. Using Llama, the app processes transcripts from IEP meetings to quickly create personalized education plans. It can also analyze nonverbal cues like facial expressions and eye movements.
"Llama helps small players like us realize our dream for social good. It was created for my son’s benefit, but now we can extend this to many other parents," says Tarun Chawdhury, Co-founder of DLYog Lab.
Also Read: Meta Expands Access to Llama AI Models for US Government Use
Pratham Education Foundation
Based in India, Pratham used Llama to create a WhatsApp-based chatbot that helps mothers access reliable childcare and education information in 12 Indian languages. The chatbot generates an audio and video answer based on verified documents and sends a video link, making it easier for mothers to digest the necessary information. More than 40,000 mothers in India have used the product.
"This information can be difficult to access on the open web, which often provides confusing or conflicting information," Meta said.
"Social good must be open source. As a non-revenue-generating organization, it's important for us to get the most value for our dollars. That's another way Llama has been really helpful," says Nishant Baghel, Director of Technology Innovation at PEF.
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
HiiiWAV
Based in Oakland, California, HiiiWAV helps Black musicians learn how to build startups using AI. By using open-source technologies like Llama, Meta says they can build innovative tools without incurring high costs, promoting accessibility and collaboration within the community.
"Off-the-shelf closed-source options get pricey with usage, and they're hard to build with. We're also building AI-powered hardware, so we need the control and freedom to customize, which is missing from closed-source options. Open-source is definitely the way to go," says Bosko Kante, Executive Director of HiiiWAV.
AIIRA
AIIRA, the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, builds AI tools to help agriculturists with their daily operations. The aim is to encourage AI adoption among farmers to help them solve challenges in crop improvement and production.
According to Meta, Llama's open-source technology allows for multilingual, geographic, and context-dependent fine-tuning, so the organization can have different models that work for particular regions. AIIRA uses Llama to generate personalized recommendations for farmers to address pests and weeds.
"Open-source AI's ability to deploy at scale is transformative. It works in the United States, and it can work in Africa, in India, across the globe. I'm hoping this open-source spirit continues in the future so that we can continue to leverage the latest advances in AI," says Chinmay Hegde, an AIIRA member and professor at New York University.
Meta shared these examples, saying, "These innovations with Llama show how open-source AI is positively impacting the world."
