# Most clinicians welcome patients who arrive informed

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/most-clinicians-welcome-patients-who-arrive-informed/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Ashley Alexander](https://realalpha.app/people/ashley-alexander/) · Ashley Alexander is VP of Product at OpenAI leading health.
- Host: [Peter Yang](https://realalpha.app/people/peter-yang/) · Host, Behind the Craft · Led product at Roblox, Reddit, Twitch and Meta for 10+ years.
- Show: Behind the Craft
- Episode: [OpenAI VP: How AI Changed My Family’s Fight Against Cancer | Ashley Alexander](https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/), Nov 8, 2026
- Moment: 9:38 to 12:21 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/most-clinicians-welcome-patients-who-arrive-informed/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/?t=578

## Quote

> “the majority like tend to like that their patients can **come in much more educated**”
> — [Ashley Alexander](https://realalpha.app/people/ashley-alexander/) at [10:20](https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/?t=620) · Behind the Craft

## Takeaways

1. Most clinicians she speaks with value prepared patients.
2. Some doctors resist, but many want more informed conversations.
3. Present AI research as questions for the clinician, not orders.

## About this segment

Ashley Alexander says most clinicians she speaks with value patients who use AI to arrive informed, though some resist it. Framing research as questions—not instructions—can make short visits more productive.

From “OpenAI VP: How AI Changed My Family’s Fight Against Cancer | Ashley Alexander”, Nov 8, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[9:42](https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/?t=582) like now that you talk to your doctors and clinicians i'm sure like are doctors kind of annoyed by like people like us like coming with all these ideas or can they you know so i i talk to a lot of clinicians because we also build products in addition to building consumer products to support people in their health like you and i are using to support our parents and ourselves we also build products for clinicians so i talk to them a lot we also have many physicians that work with us we have hundreds of clinicians that are red teaming and um evaluating every every major step of training has health context involved this is something we take very seriously um in terms of making sure the models live up to the sort of responsibility and safety standards that we do anyway all that to say i talked a lot of clinicians yeah yeah um i definitely think

[10:19](https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/?t=619) there's both opinions i hear both opinions i would say though the on balance the majority like tend to like that their patients can come in much more educated you know and i don't want to sugarcoat it like there's definitely some clinicians who will call out the the edge cases or the sort of like the sort of like it it sort of is reminiscent of the dr ghoul you know days where you know some clinicians don't don't like that um but for i would say the vast majority of them have this reaction of wow this is actually really a helpful tool my patients are coming in more informed we're able to make better use of the time um because most most clinicians didn't get into the profession to have to just like fill out a bunch of charts and and paperwork and and make people feel overwhelmed they don't like that either you know the most of them came in because

[11:09](https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/?t=669) they really want to help people and they want to heal people and a huge part of the healing process is is understanding what's happening to you and understanding your options and being able to move through it together like so much of what a doctor does is so much more than just the actual process of prescribing the you know charting the whatever um so yeah most of them i think um from what i hear yeah like when their patients come in more educated and and ready to have the conversation i i guess just also like just as a caregiver you can also just like talk to it the right way right just like kind of like cross-functional alignment right you can like you shouldn't come in with like hey you should go do this you should be like hey you know you're the expert but i did some research and like that's what i think that is such a good point and maybe a good kind of psa for all the

[11:51](https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/?t=711) all the people out there of you know this is not a replacement for a doctor it is not for diagnosis and treatment but it can really equip you with information and so you're Right. I think that the way to use this tool in a way that that really actually it actually strengthens your relationship with your doctor. If you can go in saying exactly that, like you coming to you as the expert, but I've done some homework so that I'm coming in prepared with actually some pointed questions.

[12:16](https://realalpha.app/v/pR7NCYKsA3o/?t=736) So that I'm making better use of this limited time that we have together. I think doctors love that.