Category: Politics, Religion & Money

EMR AIeee!

Epic Systems is doing something Microsoft has done in the past, by putting product development on hold for a security review.

“Ultimately they need to get ready to patch, patch, patch,” he said. “As soon as they think they are patching fast enough, they need to patch faster.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/business/ai-epic-health-records-privacy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1E.cvua.p5Dc8t7-w2a4&smid=url-share

I’m laughing, because rushed patches inevitably result in needing to patch the patches. This is a drill that’s been played out so very many times before. New features always open the potential for new security vulnerabilities.

What confounds me, after these many decades, is the endless cat-and-mouse game between corporations and hackers. Code that wasn’t rushed out the door seems no more secure than the rush jobs. Despite going through multiple staff meetings, peer reviews and security checks, vulnerabilities in software are discovered by outsiders and exploited.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t merely a new, possibly risky, feature being added to an existing, widely-used system. AI is a fundamental change in the way software is generated, content is presented, and how people interact online.

Healthy Skepticism

Some years ago, a call on my landline came from someone who sounded like a middle-aged man. He claimed to be fund-raising for a group supporting local law enforcement. I said sure, I’d be happy to donate fifty bucks.

The caller said to leave a check in my mailbox, made out to the alleged organization, and they’d pick it up. I said I would prefer to drop it off at the police station in town. The caller said, “Oh, sh*t” and hung up.

Then there was the time a call came from someone with an Indian accent, claiming to represent the IRS. He said that I owed the government money, and if I didn’t pay it immediately I’d be arrested. To which I said, “Okay, then come and arrest me.” He insisted I was in very serious trouble and I insisted that I wanted to be arrested. After a bit of back-and-forth he gave up.

I no longer bother to answer landline calls. If it’s something valid and important, they can leave a message.

The fact that Donald Trump is once again president is proof there’s a sucker born every minute. So far, I’ve watched only the first story in this Frontline documentary about online scams. Listening to the father’s anguish about his son’s suicide, my immediate thought was, why did he have an unsecured gun in the house?