Maybe artificial intelligence will be the last technology we invent

Journalist: Thomas Peterhans | Photographer: Markus Bertschi

Mr Michel, where do we humans benefit most from artificial intelligence?
Definitely when it comes to health. This is by far the area where artificial intelligence will bring us the greatest benefits. AI will redefine health. We’re going to see an explosion in medicines that enable us to live longer.

Does this mean that we’ll be able to live to 120 in the future thanks to medication?
This is quite possible, but I don’t think this should be the aim of the healthcare industry. Instead, it needs to develop solutions to prevent the most common causes of death and ensure that we remain pain-free and of sound mind for as long as possible in old age.

What will it take to achieve this?
The healthcare industry needs to conquer disease. Today, over 90% of all deaths can be attributed to diseases: 30% to cancer, 30% to cardiovascular diseases and 30% to other illnesses. We will be able to cure many types of cancer and a large proportion of other diseases by the 2040s or 2050s thanks to technology.

How exactly is technology helping to make this happen?
Technology will massively accelerate the pace at which new drugs are developed. As soon as the human body has been completely virtualised, trials will no longer be carried out on real people, but on models. This will be one of the greatest achievements in the history of medical science, but it will definitely take another ten years or so to become reality.

Where do we stand today?
In cancer research, using technology in the development of drugs has already come on a long way. The collaboration between Nvidia and Roche alone has hundreds of potential new drugs in development. Or take obesity, for example. It is associated with over 200 diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, knee, hip and back problems, cardiovascular disease and sleep apnoea syndrome. It is true that obesity is not just a disease, but also the result of people’s lifestyles and often a combination. However, if people become slimmer thanks to weight loss products, we can also get many of these secondary diseases under control as a result.

The boom in appetite suppressants is also helping drive Ypsomed forwards. Your company supplies the injection systems, the so-called pens and autoinjectors, which are used to inject the medication.
That’s right, and we see a lot of potential here. Today, we generate sales of around CHF 400 million with our injection systems. This is set to triple by 2030. That’s why we are investing around CHF 1.5 billion in new production infrastructure over the next five years, and technology is also extremely important to us here, too.

In what way?
A pen is made up of 12 to 13 different parts. Production comprises two main processes: plastic injection moulding and assembly. The parts, which have already been injection moulded, are fed into the 30-metre-long assembly system, from which the finished pens emerge onto pallets. Our employees no longer have any contact the components, but they are still involved in the intralogistics and logistics. However, my vision is of a ‘dark factory’ without any employees on the shop floor at all – the light is only switched on in the event of a fault in order to rectify any errors.

Is it possible to manufacture the pens without human labour?
No, but the work done by people is limited to value-adding activities such as planning or operating and maintaining the systems. This focus is central. I don’t agree that not everyone will be able to keep up. My experience shows that the vast majority of people are capable of doing more demanding jobs if they are given the right training. In Burgdorf and Solothurn we have over 400 unskilled employees, who we have trained on the job.

What is the significance of technology for Switzerland as a manufacturing location?
Technology is the only way to survive as a manufacturing location in the long term. However, Switzerland doesn’t necessarily have to be the only manufacturing location. We need to develop, think and research – we don’t necessarily need labour-intensive activities and industries in this country.

Technology also plays a key role in Ypsomed’s second business area, insulin pumps. Can you tell us more about this?
For the insulin pumps, we work with the CamAPS algorithm from Cambridge, which is the best in our industry. CamAPS is a learning algorithm that uses past data to calculate models in real time in order to predict glucose development. This allows the insulin pump to be controlled much better, which is a real game changer for people with type 1 diabetes.

Are there other areas at Ypsomed where technology is a game changer?
There are a lot of them, for example in patents – which is a perfect area for AI to prove its worth. Today, it’s no longer a case of defending your own patents but shaping the way other patents are developed. Before, our experts had to be familiar with hundreds of patent specifications in order to explain to developers the next step they should take. Those days are over. Today, we get results in just a few hours that used to take a month, and they are also far more accurate.

AI ensures faster and more accurate results. But are there also risks involved as well?
Artificial intelligence defines every conceivable variant for a specific element and covers it with a large number of patents. As a result, certain developments may be blocked by patents. This need to be checked very carefully so as not to slow down innovation.

In conclusion, which AI projects are you currently working on?
A lot. I’ll stick to just two – bots will soon be handling enquiries in our call centres. These bots will speak in the same accent as the caller and provide better and faster information. I’m sure that it won’t be long before interacting with a machine is the most normal thing in the world.

And the second project?
We are working on completely virtualising me as CEO. This is because as things stand, it takes a lot of time to produce videos. In future, all I will have to do is type in the text and my avatar will speak – perfectly dressed in a business suit or a more casual outfit depending on the occasion. Of course I will still be active myself depending on the target audience and the area of application. The important thing is that thanks to technology, we can all do much more at the same time and use our time more efficiently.