‘Digital co-worker’ on the rise in health care and other insights from Medical Alley’s 2026 Summit

In today’s newsletter: Medical Alley CEO Roberta Dressen shares key takeaways from the 2026 summit, Target advances its partnership with ChatGPT, a preview of today’s Minneapolis Downtown Council annual meeting, and Gavin Kaysen and Sean Sherman sound alarm bells for the restaurant industry.

Medical Alley president and CEO Roberta Dressen says she’s feeling “cautious optimism” following last week’s 2026 Medical Alley Summit, which brought more than 300 health care leaders together at the Four Seasons Minneapolis.

“We have officially moved past the hype cycles of digital transformation and into a season of disciplined, meaningful scale,” Dressen said. “We’ve traded the ‘move fast and break things’ mentality for something far more durable: pragmatic progress.”

To alleviate our FOMO, Dressen shared her key takeaways:

The rise of the “digital co-worker”: We are no longer discussing AI in the abstract. In 2026, we are witnessing the emergence of Agentic AI, sophisticated tools acting as co-workers to alleviate the staggering administrative burdens on our clinicians. The goal, Dressen said, is not to replace the human touch; it is to protect it, allowing providers to return to the bedside.

Precision medicine for the many: We saw a beautiful convergence of science and scalability. Breakthroughs in biomarkers are moving beyond specialized oncology and into the front lines of primary care. We are finally seeing a path where personalized medicine is no longer a luxury for the few, but a standard of care that can lower systemic costs for the many.

Trust as the bedrock: Whether navigating complex policy or implementing disruptive tech, real progress only happens when trust is established between patients, providers, and innovators. As we strive to bring care to the “last mile” (i.e., patients), maintaining human connection and data integrity must remain our North Star, Dressen said.

Anthropic won the Super Bowl, enjoying an uptick in visits to its Claude chatbot thanks to an advertisement that took a shot at rival OpenAI’s decision to bring ads to ChatGPT. But OpenAI may get the last laugh.

Following Target’s holiday shopping assistant experiment with ChatGPT, the retailer is among the first companies to test contextual advertising in ChatGPT starting this month. So, when you search for quick dinner ideas, you might notice an ad pop up for pots and pans sold at Target. “This ad would appear separately and distinctly, and not influence the answer provided by ChatGPT,” Target said in its announcement of the partnership. Target reports traffic from ChatGPT is growing 40% month over month.

Target is also partnering with Google Gemini on a forthcoming shopping tool, which Google CEO Sundar Pichai teased at NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show.

Watch: I talked to Chris Egert and Megan Newquist on KSTP-TV’s “Minnesota Live” about worker burnout and how the Star Tribune’s North Star Network event on Tuesday, Feb. 24, will offer advice on working smarter, not harder. Register now, space is limited.

Today, downtown: Twins owner Tom Pohlad, Timberwolves/Lynx CEO Matt Caldwell and Isaac Thompson, CEO of the Minnesota Orchestra, will be among the speakers at the Minneapolis Downtown Council annual meeting today, Feb. 19, at the Armory. Council President and CEO Adam Duininck promises a shorter program than years past, focused on pillars of the 2035 plan: safety, hassle-free systems, neighborhood cultivation, and “irresistible vibe.” See you there!

Make a reservation: Gavin Kaysen and Sean Sherman are among the award-winning chefs sounding alarms about the crisis facing Minnesota restaurants in the wake of Operation Metro Surge. The Strib’s Sharyn Jackson reports on the losses — which some are describing as worse than during COVID — and a number of local efforts to help.