Tech breakthroughs of 2024

Technology

The Big Story

How tech breakthroughs are changing health

The health and technology sectors intersected in fresh ways in 2024, marking a transformation largely driven by the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI).

From headphones that double as hearing aids to the use of AI voice assistance on the House floor, the last year built upon the tech advancements from the COVID-19 pandemic while opening the door to the new possibilities of the digital health space.

AI, especially the use of generative AI, is largely cited by the health care community as having the biggest impact on the industry in 2024.

“2024 really opened up our eyes — I'm talking both on the clinician side and the consumer side — to the incredible potential of gen AI tools,” René Quashie, the vice president of digital health for the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), told The Hill.

Quashie pointed to medical professionals’ increased use of AI-generated scribes during patient visits as being one of the most significant advancements this year.

Typically using a phone microphone, ambient AI scribes use machine learning and natural language processing to summarize conversations into an easy-to-read note following a patient visit.

While tech’s integration in health care can sometimes cause skepticism, the use of AI is increasingly embraced by the medical community.

AI for health is even making progress on Capitol Hill.

Former Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), who was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), made headlines earlier this year after she used an AI text-to-speech app to deliver remarks on the House floor.

The Virginia Democrat, who retired at the end of the 118th Congress, said last year she hopes the use of the model shows “creative ways we can empower people facing the kinds of health and accessibility challenges I have and demonstrate our abilities don’t define us.”

Read our breakdown of 2024's biggest digital health developments in a full report at TheHill.com this weekend.

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we're Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

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Essential Reads

How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:

Long Island authorities remind people to follow drone rules

Officials in Suffolk County, N.Y., are holding a press briefing to remind people to follow the rules and avoid restricted airspace when flying drones. Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr., noted that many people may have gotten drones as a gift over the holidays and reminded residents that unmanned aircraft of a certain size must be registered and drone operators should familiarize themselves with the rules governing …

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Elon Musk stays on brand following Tesla Cybertruck explosion

As investigators worked to piece together clues into the New Year’s Day explosion of a Cybertruck outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stayed busy extolling the virtues of one of his company’s prized vehicles on social media. Musk on social platform X — which he also owns — posted safety information about the Cybertruck, which law enforcement officials said exploded within 17 seconds after …

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Chinese cyber firm linked to botnet attack sanctioned in US

The federal government hit Chinese cyber group Integrity Technology Group with new sanctions on Friday, citing alleged computer intrusion incidents against those in the U.S. At the direction of the China, hackers associated with the Integrity Technology Group allegedly targeted multiple U.S. and foreign corporations, universities, telecommunication firms, government and media organizations, State Department spokesperson Matthew …

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Bacon knocks Musk over spending bill claims: ‘What he said was not true’

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) criticized Elon Musk on Thursday over false claims he levied against a proposed year-end funding package last month, successfully torpedoing the bill and forcing Congress to scramble to reach a new deal to avert a government shutdown. “What he said was not true,” Bacon said in an interview on NewsNation. The Hill and NewsNation are both owned by Nexstar Media Group. “So, for example, …

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The Refresh

News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:

Microsoft to spend $80B on data centers in 2025

Microsoft plans to spend $80 billion building out data centers in 2025 to train and deploy artificial intelligence (AI), with more than half of that sum set to be spent in the U.S., TechCrunch reported.

Tim Cook donates $1M to Trump inauguration

Apple CEO Tim Cook has donated $1 million to President-elect Trump's inauguration fund, following similar contributions from other Silicon Valley leaders, Axios reported.

On Our Radar

Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:

CES, an annual tech trade show hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) will kick off next Tuesday in Las Vegas.

In Other News

Branch out with other reads on The Hill:

Trump: ‘Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?’

President-elect Trump doubled down on his support for TikTok on Friday, as the popular social media app prepares to argue against an impending ban before the Supreme Court next week. “Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, accompanied by an image touting his accounts’ statistics on TikTok. Trump’s personal account has received 1.4 billion total views on …

Full Story

Apple settles Siri eavesdropping accusations for $95M

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the tech giant used its voice assistant Siri to obtain and share private conversations without users’ permission. The preliminary settlement, filed Tuesday in federal court in California, caps off the more than five-year legal battle over claims Apple’s Siri assistant regularly recorded private conversations and shared them with third …

Full Story

What Others are Reading

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

Judge orders Trump sentenced on Jan. 10, signals no punishment for conviction

A New York judge has ordered President-elect Trump’s criminal sentencing for Jan. 10, rejecting his demand that his hush money case be dismissed to … Read more

Live updates: Mike Johnson wins Speakership on first ballot after 2 ‘no’ votes flip

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) succeeded in keeping his gavel for the 119th Congress, winning in the House’s Speakership vote in one round Friday. … Read more

You're all caught up. See you next week!

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