These models can interpret complex medical data, genomic sequences, and cellular interactions, making AI a powerful tool in predictive medicine.
In the far West, American entrepreneur Bryan Johnson is finding unfathomable ways to prevent himself from dying. He has even built a community called 'Don't Die'! While immortality remains out of reach, humans have long pursued ways to extend the lifespan of our race.
In India, we are integrating technology into healthcare to transition from reactive to predictive AI-driven health solutions.
At RISE - Longevity India Conference 2025 that is underway in IISc, Bengaluru, Accel partner and Longevity India co-founder Prashanth Prakash outlined how AI and systems biology are transforming diagnostics, creating a healthcare model focused on prevention rather than cure.
AI for Predictive Health
Prashanth Prakash at RISE for Healthy Aging Conference. Credit: AIM
Prakash, who supports Biopeak, a longevity clinic focusing on precision diagnostics and AI-driven insights for health management, highlighted how AI is bridging the gap between systems biology and clinical applications.
Unlike traditional medical diagnostics that rely on isolated tests, AI-driven models analyse molecular pathways, genetic markers, and large-scale health data to predict diseases before symptoms appear.
He stressed that India is uniquely positioned to build a next-gen AI-driven health system, bypassing legacy constraints that have slowed down western healthcare.
"We don't have a lot of healthcare infrastructure, which means we have the luxury to engineer something new without being compromised by all kinds of insurance and other entities," Prakash said at the conference.
He also explained how AI is unlocking new possibilities. "The problem with the current system, which of course all of us are very familiar with, is that it's slightly more partitioned and siloed," he remarked.
Prakash noted that the real connection is with systems biology, which has matured over time and is now being brought into the mainstream by AI.
He envisions AI playing a key role in quantitative language models that go beyond text-based data processing. These models can interpret complex medical data, genomic sequences, and cellular interactions, making AI a powerful tool in predictive medicine.
"It's probably generative AI, but I think it's a web of complex AI systems. You need classical reasoning AI systems, generative AI, and quantitative language models, not just systems that can deal with English, but those that can deal with more complex medical data."
The shift towards AI-driven diagnostics is already happening through Biopeak. Instead of relying on conventional blood tests, Biopeak leverages AI to uncover early indicators of chronic diseases that might otherwise go undetected.
"What Biopeak is doing is again very cutting edge because in conscious medicine, there are things that you can do in the US, and there are things that you can do in Singapore, but I think there is a more opportunity here in India to find the standards for conscious medicine," he said.
Government and Research Support
Institutions such as IISc have taken steps to integrate AI into longevity research. IISc's ICMR-backed Center for Advanced Research is focusing on computational models for aging and predictive health analytics.
Govindan Rangarajan, director of IISc, reinforced this interdisciplinary approach. "The Center for Advanced Research will focus on healthy aging and also look at all the models for modeling aging and aging axis etc.
"It involves five departments -- besides the biology department, it also includes computer science and materials engineering," he said at the conference.
Karnataka's health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said, "There is so much happening in the fields of medical science and bioscience on the cellular and molecular levels. It's not just limited to increasing your life span and reducing or slowing down aging, but also reversing aging."
Interestingly, traditional health practices such as Ayurveda are also being studied with respect to biology and genomics to understand healthy aging, as highlighted by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, secretary of the Ayush ministry.
"From the Ayurveda perspective, it is interesting that there is a whole science that talks about the aging population and how to provide healthy aging or quality health for the aging population," said Kotecha.
With a number of initiatives driving longevity research, the country is better placed to achieve breakthroughs as opposed to the West where AI adoption in healthcare is hindered by regulatory constraints. Predictive health models can, in fact, become a norm rather than an exception, which will all be powered by tech.
"Computer science will be the glue that will bind everything together," Prakash concluded.
