The Doctor Who Fought Resistance to Save Lives w/Zara Safsovski | Imagine AI Live 25 | E143

Imagine AI Podcast

Zara Safsovski is a medical doctor, technologist, and startup founder who’s seen the full spectrum of AI—both its transformative power and its cultural resistance. In this powerful conversation at Imagine AI Live 25, Zara shares her journey building an AI healthcare startup, the intense pushback she received from clinicians, and why she remains relentlessly optimistic about AI’s role in saving lives. We also dive into her new startup: an AI-powered facial recognition check-in system for events and hotels. Zara’s mission? End the long lines, streamline experiences, and bring her nerdy love for tech into real-world solutions. This episode is about more than tools—it's about ethics, purpose, and building for humanity. (0:00) – Welcome & Zara’s history with Imagine AI Live (1:09) – Her workshop on AI in healthcare and beyond (2:06) – The pushback from doctors and the fear of replacement (3:20) – Ethics, greed, and prioritizing patient care (4:01) – Real AI use cases: CRISPR, early diagnosis, cancer detection (4:55) – The story of AI catching lung cancer no one else saw (5:35) – Why she defends AI, even when people push back (7:08) – Her next venture: facial recognition for event check-in (8:22) – Team challenges and staying focused as a founder (9:00) – Closing reflections and how to connect with Zara