Every day, in every hospital, doctors spend valuable time writing discharge letters. It is an indispensable document, informing the primary care physician about everything that took place during a patient’s stay, but it is also one of the administrative burdens that takes the most time away from patients. On October 1st, at the AI+X Summit in Zurich, our CEO Sebastiano Cobianco shared how Ex Machina decided to tackle this challenge.<\/p>\n
The AI+X Summit is the flagship event of the Zurich AI Festival. Its name embodies our core philosophy: \u201cAI\u201d represents the algorithm, while the \u201cX\u201d marks the intersection where artificial intelligence meets another domain\u2014in this case, medicine. We believe AI shouldn’t be built in an ivory tower, but side by side with the professionals who know the craft inside out.<\/p>\n
Sebastiano took part in the workshop \u201cTrustworthiness and data sovereignty in critical AI applications,\u201d organized by the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA USI-SUPSI) as part of the Ticino delegation. The session addressed a tough question: how can artificial intelligence be leveraged when handling data that can never leave hospital walls?<\/p>\n
The answer is Cyrano. It reads the patient\u2019s electronic medical record and drafts the discharge summary using a large language model (LLM) operating directly within the hospital\u2019s own infrastructure. Then, a second, fully independent model acts as a reviewer: it cross-checks the draft against the source data, flags inaccuracies, and suggests revisions. Finally, the physician makes the call, accepting or rejecting every suggestion. AI proposes, the human decides.<\/p>\n
Healthcare data is among the most sensitive information there is, which is why Cyrano can run entirely within the hospital\u2019s private network. Ward staff don’t have to face a steep learning curve: they sign in with their standard credentials, and the platform communicates directly with the electronic medical record system. It is fluent in Italian, French, and German, fully meeting the multilingual demands of Swiss healthcare.<\/p>\n
Cyrano is the result of a three-way collaboration: Ex Machina developed the platform as the implementation partner, IDSIA USI-SUPSI ensured scientific rigor, and the Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC) provided access to its wards and medical teams. The research initiative behind it, AutoDischarge, is funded by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency.<\/p>\n
In Zurich, we stood alongside IDSIA, the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), Artificialy, and Natzka under the banner \u201cPioneering Ticino.\u201d Our key takeaway is simple: Ticino is producing production-ready clinical tools, not just prototypes.<\/p>\n