Theranos whistleblower warns the AI boom makes deception easier

Tyler Shultz, a former Theranos employee and one of the key whistleblowers who exposed the US blood-testing company's fraud, has warned that the artificial intelligence (AI) boom offers a prime opening for deceiving people. He made the remarks in an interview with The San Francisco Standard, as the documentary "You Can See Everything" renews attention on Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her final weeks before prison.

The film about Holmes

The film, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, deliberately portrays Holmes neither as a master manipulator nor as a victim. It focuses instead on her ability to make people pity her even when they know about her crimes. It is described as one of the highest-grossing documentaries of all time. It also shows Holmes and her partner, hotel heir Billy Evans, working on Haemanthus, a diagnostics company they call "Theranos 2.0", which has reportedly raised about $20 million.

Shultz argues that Holmes is being discussed now because she wants to be. He also criticizes the habit of investors sending $100,000 after a brief coffee meeting, saying Holmes scaled that model up to $100 million.

A warning to investors

Theranos reached a valuation of roughly $10 billion even though its technology did not work. Its devices reached Walgreens stores and gave faulty results to real patients. Funding often came from individuals such as the DeVos and Walton families rather than venture capital firms, and the company withheld scientific evidence from investors, citing trade secrets.

Shultz says due diligence is especially hard in AI, where it is difficult to tell something genuinely new from a "ChatGPT wrapper". This comes as companies that have never turned a profit are raising money at trillion-dollar valuations. On Holmes's future, he says he feels uneasy and believes she is preparing a "second act".