The brief · 13 March 2026

The AI brief, 2026-03-13

Today public health finally gets its AI doctrine, and a scan can read your diabetic future. Meanwhile in Europe, Brussels is mulling how to simplify what it just finished complicating.

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CDC releases AI roadmap for public health

The US agency wants to use AI to spot health threats faster and cut paperwork for field teams. An internally deployed GenAI chatbot has already saved $3.7 million in labor costs. The open question is whether this translates into genuinely faster detection on the ground, not just back-office savings.

practitioners › The document, dated March 13, 2026, frames AI use around three pillars: threat detection, administrative burden reduction, and operational excellence.

CDC →

NIH-Funded AI Reads Your CT Scan and Predicts Diabetes Five Years Out

Merlin analyzes a routine CT scan and flags hundreds of conditions with over 81% accuracy. The real breakthrough: it also estimates your risk of developing diabetes or heart disease up to five years before symptoms show up. A scan ordered for something unrelated suddenly becomes a full health forecast.

practitioners › Merlin model, trained on 15,000+ scans, NIH-funded, published March 13, 2026, ~75% accuracy on 5-year predictions.

NIH →

Perplexity Finance adds a traceability layer to its answers

Every figure the AI cites now links back to its precise source, SEC, FactSet, S&P Global, or an exchange like the Nasdaq. For anyone using Perplexity to check a stock price or financial data point, that's the difference between taking the AI's word for it and being able to trace the claim back to the original document.

practitioners › The feature draws on more than 40 tools and has already been running inside Deep Research since March 13, 2026.

Perplexity Changelog →

EU Council pushes to simplify the AI Act

Brussels built the AI Act as the world's reference point for AI regulation. Two years on, the Council admits it's too heavy to enforce and is negotiating a lighter set of rules, which should affect the compliance timeline if you sell software in Europe.

practitioners › On March 13, 2026, the EU Council adopted its negotiating position on the Digital Omnibus VII, which amends Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the AI Act) and Regulation (EU) 2018/1139.

Conseil de l'UE →