When Innovation Meets Inequity: AI-Driven Health Care and the Subscription Dilemma

In the push and pull between cutting-edge technology, health care, and the ever-present force of commercialization, new innovations often raise big questions about who really benefits. That’s a tension Annaliese Meyer captures in her speculative fiction piece, which just earned her the top spot in MIT’s 2024 Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize. Her story isn’t just about futuristic gadgets—it’s a look at the societal divides that can grow wider as health care goes digital.

Meyer, who is a PhD candidate in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, imagines a world where “B-Bots”—Bluetooth-controlled synthetic bacteria—could transform the way we manage chronic conditions. Think of tiny helpers in your gut, tuned remotely to stabilize everything from vitamin levels to acid reflux and even IBS. The potential for relief sounds incredible, but Meyer’s work doesn’t stop at optimism.

Her story, “(Pre/Sub)scribe,” takes an uncomfortable twist: What happens when such life-altering technology is suddenly available only through a subscription? Suddenly, something designed to help everyone becomes another privilege for those who can afford it, leaving the most vulnerable at risk of being left behind.

This isn’t just conjecture for Meyer. As a Canadian who’s seen her own mother’s cancer care handled smoothly by their health system, she finds the difference between public and private health care impossible to ignore. That personal experience shapes her writing, bringing real-world urgency to her imagined future.

For Meyer, the link between her ocean science research and this tale about gut bacteria is surprisingly natural. Her day-to-day scientific questions—like how and why microbes shift their activity in changing environments—inspired her to think about how we might one day harness synthetic microbes as treatments. Writing became her way to stay creative amid the intensity of her PhD work and to reconnect with her early dreams of being an author.

The Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize, now in its third year, is all about these big societal questions. The 2024 contest drew 65 submissions from across MIT—from urban planners to economists—all considering how technology could change our world for better or worse. Meyer received the grand prize, joined by two runners-up who tackled similarly provocative topics.

Looking to the future, organizers hope to expand the contest, adding workshops and more resources for students to explore these intersections of technology and society. For Meyer, the impact was personal: “It really pushed me as a writer and a scientist, to dig into concepts I’d barely encountered before. It was an incredible opportunity to grow.”

As digital breakthroughs mix ever more closely with our health care systems—and as profit models increasingly shape what’s possible—Meyer’s work is more than fiction. It’s a call to stay vigilant about who gets left behind, and a reminder of the responsibility we all share in shaping a fairer, more inclusive future for health and technology.

Source: https://news.mit.edu/2025/envisioning-future-where-health-care-tech-leaves-some-behind