Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more important in many areas in the United States, including healthcare. AI agents are software programs made to do tasks on their own. They started as simple chatbots but have grown into systems that handle complex jobs in different industries. A recent event called the Triangle AI Summit took place at Duke University on May 30, 2025. Experts from technology, healthcare, education, and other fields came together to share ideas and show what AI can do.
One company, Simbo AI, focuses on using AI to automate front-office phone services in healthcare. It is important for medical administrators, owners, and IT managers to know how to make AI agents fit their specific needs to improve patient experiences, reduce work, and make operations run better. This article shares what was learned at the Triangle AI Summit about customizing AI agents, especially for healthcare management in the United States.
At the Triangle AI Summit, there was a special track about AI agents for both beginners and experienced users. Workshops showed how AI agents can be changed to perform different tasks. These tasks ranged from simple automated customer service to complex decision-making support.
AI agents can understand human questions, handle routine work, and give quick information or help. Customizing these agents means programming them to do what a specific organization needs. For example, in a medical office, an AI agent might answer patient calls, schedule visits, remind patients about medicine, or help figure out symptoms before seeing a doctor.
The sessions demonstrated how to customize AI agents using coding, training machine learning models on special data, and setting up rules or conversation flows that fit specific needs. Changing these settings helps businesses make AI assistants more accurate and useful, while cutting down mistakes.
For instance, Simbo AI uses phone automation with language models trained to recognize healthcare words and patient questions. This helps patients get clear and correct answers and lets human staff focus on harder jobs.
One key topic at the summit was making AI trustworthy and responsible. Experts, including Nicoleta Economou-Zavlanos who led a panel on this, talked about the need for ethical responsibility. When customizing AI agents, it is very important to think about privacy, data safety, and preventing bias—especially in healthcare, where patient information is private.
Responsible AI means making sure automated systems act fairly and clearly, protect patient privacy, and follow rules like HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in the United States. These ethical rules must be included when designing AI systems to keep trust and avoid problems.
Also, AI should know its limits and send difficult or emergency cases to qualified humans. Mixing automation with human supervision is very necessary in medical settings, where wrong information can harm patients.
Though the focus here is healthcare, the summit showed examples from other fields where AI agents are used. In education, demonstrations included AI tutors helping students learn in a way that fits them. In science, AI agents help handle data and speed up discoveries by doing repetitive work.
In transportation and customer service, AI agents manage schedules, answer questions, and offer help 24/7. Customizing AI lets each field change the agent’s behavior and knowledge to fit their special language and tasks.
For healthcare managers and IT staff in U.S. medical offices, seeing how AI works in other fields can give ideas on how to use AI agents to improve efficiency, accuracy, and patient satisfaction.
Medical office administrators, owners, and IT people know how hard front-office tasks can be. Answering phones, setting appointments, handling insurance questions, and managing patient info use a lot of time and resources. This often causes long waits and patient frustration.
AI workflow automation can make these processes better. AI agents, like those from Simbo AI, can answer calls, sort requests, and schedule visits automatically, even when the office is closed. This lowers the work load for humans and reduces missed calls or booking mistakes.
These AI systems also connect with electronic health record (EHR) systems to keep patient records updated and accurate. This stops data duplication and errors, making information management smoother between departments.
AI also helps with billing and insurance. It can pull out important info from patient talks, check insurance coverage, and get claims approved with little human help. Automating these steps cuts admin costs and speeds up payments.
The summit included talks about sustainable and green AI. Charley Kneifel, Duke’s Chief Technology Officer, talked about lowering the environmental effects of AI. Healthcare groups thinking about AI should also think about how efficient and eco-friendly the AI tools are.
The U.S. healthcare system faces pressure to lower costs and improve patient care. Medical centers in areas with big tech hubs, like North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park near Duke University, are already trying advanced AI tools.
The Triangle AI Summit had many different people including faculty, healthcare workers, IT experts, and local community members. This showed strong regional interest in using AI for practical improvements. Duke University’s School of Nursing and Duke Learning Innovation helped organize the event, showing the importance of teamwork between fields in healthcare AI.
As AI keeps changing fast—as keynote speaker Cade Metz from The New York Times said—healthcare groups need to stay updated on best methods and new trends for AI customization and use.
Events like the Triangle AI Summit give healthcare leaders in the U.S. tools to make smart choices about using AI in daily work. They learn about ethics, practical tasks, and the technical skills needed to customize AI agents the right way.
The workshops at the Triangle AI Summit used hands-on learning for AI customization. Beginners learned to build simple AI agents for basic tasks. More advanced users learned coding methods for deep customization.
For healthcare managers and IT staff, these workshops give important experience. They help people understand what AI can do and how to handle AI agents in real life. Joining similar events or working with schools can speed up using good AI tools that fit medical offices.
Focusing on AI and workflow automation shows how AI agents can cut down admin work and improve operations in healthcare. Custom AI systems automate repetitive and slow tasks like answering calls and patient intake. This frees staff to focus on medical care and complex admin jobs.
Using AI automation means offices can keep patient contact centers running well outside regular hours. Appointment requests, medicine questions, and basic health advice get handled quickly without needing a person right away.
AI-driven workflows also help lower mistakes caused by manual data entry or phone miscommunication. When linked to practice management and EHRs, AI supports smooth info transfer, keeps data correct, and improves patient management.
This integration also allows offices to grow easily. As patient numbers rise, AI agents can handle the extra work without needing more front desk staff. This helps control costs and keeps service quality good.
The Triangle AI Summit and its workshops shared helpful information about customizing AI agents for many uses in different industries. They clearly showed benefits for healthcare management in the United States. Medical office administrators, owners, and IT managers need to understand AI customization and its ethical and practical sides to use AI well for patient services and internal tasks.
The Triangle AI Summit is a gathering hosted by Duke University aimed at exploring the landscape of artificial intelligence through discussions on its ethical, social, and environmental implications.
The summit is hosted by Duke University Provost Alec Gallimore and organized by multiple Duke entities including Duke Learning Innovation and the Duke School of Nursing.
The summit will occur on May 30, 2025, at The Washington Duke Inn in Durham, NC.
The purpose is to engage participants with AI’s transformative potential while addressing the ethical and practical challenges that accompany its integration.
The keynote speaker is Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The New York Times and author of “Genius Makers,” discussing the rapid advancements in AI.
The parallel sessions will cover subjects such as trustworthy AI, advancements in science through AI, AI’s societal impact, and sustainability in AI.
This showcase will feature over 20 live demonstrations highlighting AI applications in educational settings and their impacts on learning.
There are workshops focusing on using AI agents, from beginner-friendly sessions to advanced coding sessions for customizing AI agents.
The summit includes panels discussing the role of responsible AI in healthcare, highlighting its application in medical decision-making and ethical governance.
The expected outcomes include fostering deeper engagement with AI in the Triangle region, encouraging ethical AI practices, and inspiring interdisciplinary collaboration.