Agentic Patient 8: Why an AI Founder Won't Trust Chatbots With Her Own Health

In this episode of The Agentic Patient, a Faces of Digital Health series on how patients are using AI to find answers the healthcare system didn't give them, Tjasa Zajc talks to Elena Ikonomovska, CEO and Co-Founder of Diadia Health. She stopped trusting chatbots with her own health data — after building an AI company on the problem they create. Elena talks about her two-and-a-half-year journey that followed her mother's death and her own dismissed symptoms — and the causal-reasoning AI she built in response. Guest: Elena Ikonomovska, CEO, Co-Founder & Chief AI Officer, Diadia Health What the conversation covers: - Why Ikonomovska calls generative AI's confident wrong answers "faithful hallucinations" - Building a causal-reasoning engine instead of using large language models for clinical decisions - Why lab "normal" ranges differ by genetics — and what that means for your bloodwork - Her own dismissed thyroid and pre-diabetes symptoms, and what a two-and-a-half-year diagnosis journey actually looks like - The risk of self-diagnosing from ChatGPT-style tools, and what to ask any AI health platform about your data - Why she believes AI should strengthen, not replace, the doctor-patient relationship - Early clinical results: agreement rates with physician judgment and reductions in diagnostic trial-and-error - The equity risk in AI-driven healthcare — who gets access to validated tools, and who doesn't Chapters: 00:00 Intro: why The Agentic Patient series exists 02:30 Meet Elena Ikonomovska and the case for causal AI 03:35 From two decades in machine learning to health AI 07:07 What the model needs: blood panels, genetics, and interactions 09:45 Elena's own diagnosis journey — two and a half years to answers 11:32 Why she wouldn't trust chatbots with her health today 12:40 "Faithful hallucinations": the hidden risk in generative AI 15:04 Inside a causal-reasoning engine built without generative AI 17:32 What happens when clinicians outsource reasoning to chatbots 21:06 Redefining "normal": genetics and personalized lab ranges 27:08 Women's health data gaps and the DTC testing boom 28:13 Strengthening, not replacing, the doctor-patient relationship 31:42 Chatbot safety advice: what patients should never share 38:07 Clinical validation, agreement rates, and what's next Faces of Digital Health: Website: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/faces-of-digital-health Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4cElKJHrauyP6QJQaCkvdY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/faces-of-digital-health/id1194284040 Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com The Agentic Patient series hub: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/agentic-patient-blog #DigitalHealth #AIinHealthcare #PatientAdvocacy #WomensHealth #HealthTech #ClinicalAI #TheAgenticPatient