WED AM News: New concerns emerging around AI in healthcare; WEC Energy Group courting more data center customers

May 6, 2026

— Even as earlier concerns around AI in healthcare are being addressed, new issues are popping up for the quickly evolving technology.

That’s one conclusion from yesterday’s WisPolitics-State Affairs and Wisconsin Technology Council event at the Medical College of Wisconsin. The luncheon explored the use of AI in addressing healthcare workforce shortages.

Outgoing MCW President and CEO Dr. John Raymond warned of emerging dangers for the use of AI in healthcare.

“Initially, the pitfalls were with the quality of the data that were included in training sets, and the tendency of some of these algorithms either to hallucinate or … make things up, and that was a real concern,” he said. “Those are mostly, not completely, but mostly under control now.”

But newer concerns around data privacy and disclosures of how AI and personal data are being used are taking center stage, as ambient AI notetaking systems become the norm for clinicians. A recent survey from the American Medical Association found more than 80% of clinicians now use AI in their everyday practice.

“The ethics of the use of AI and disclosure to your patients about how you’re using their data, how it’s being processed, whether it is HIPAA-compliant in terms of security, compared to the electronic health records … Those are real concerns, and we need to monitor those,” Raymond said yesterday.

The discussion noted the potential for AI to take some of the workload off of providers to reduce burnout, as well as applications in diagnosing disease, improving the patient experience and aiding doctors’ decisionmaking.

But all of those benefits are only possible when the underlying technical infrastructure is in place, according to UW-Milwaukee Prof. Lu He, an expert in health care informatics. She said that poses a real issue, especially for efforts to support underserved communities and rural areas.

“Using AI, we’ll assume they have a smartphone, they will have a good enough system enabled to run those large language models or even speech recognition softwares,” she said. “But in many communities, those infrastructures simply don’t exist, and it’s actually becoming a burden for the patients.”

In addition, she noted a lack of “human infrastructure” to maintain and fix AI systems when they break down, adding “there’s a long way to go” to ensure the technology can benefit everyone.

Meanwhile, a workforce specialist with the Wisconsin Hospital Association yesterday called for being “careful but also move quickly,” noting the pace of change in healthcare has been accelerating for decades.

“AI is going to move even faster than other technology and electronic health records,” said Ann Zenk, WHA’s senior vice president of workforce and clinical practice. “That’s good news, because we have a population challenge in Wisconsin. All Boomers like me are retiring, and we’re also increasing healthcare demand.”

She noted the sector’s “double challenge” of a shrinking workforce and rising demand, pointing to AI as a critical tool for filling in the gaps. Still, both she and Raymond raised the issue of AI actually adding to the burden for health workers, if providers are pushed to see more patients as the technology takes over other tasks for them.

Raymond noted if clinicians are more productive and efficient thanks to AI, “there’s always a temptation for employers” to drop more work on them.

“And maybe even if the institutions aren’t telling you to do that, many of our clinicians are on a productivity-based reimbursement model, so they may self-activate to do that,” he said. “We have to make sure we take care of all aspects of the health care spectrum.”

Yesterday’s panel also touched on the role of government in setting standards for AI use in healthcare. Nick Myers, an entrepreneur and director of AI innovation for Recovery.com, argued “we desperately need” more regulation for the technology.

“Until that happens, we’re going to continue to exist in this environment without standards, without a code of ethics, without any type of governance, trying to integrate it into an industry that, as it should be, is the most regulated industry next to finance we have in this country,” he said.

Raymond added “it’s the Wild West right now” and called for an interoperability framework laid out in regulations. He also backed a uniform national standard for complying with HIPAA.

— WEC Energy Group’s CEO said the utility is courting more data center customers after regulators approved a contract to serve two facilities now under development.

Scott Lauber, CEO and president of We Energies parent WEC Energy Group, said during a quarterly earnings call yesterday the utility is “in discussions” with prospective hyperscale data center customers and “optimistic” about new development after the Public Service Commission verbally approved a service contract between We Energies and two data centers in Mount Pleasant and Port Washington.

He also said the utility could “hopefully” make another announcement on new development on its third-quarter earnings call.

Commissioners approved a modified version of the “Very Large Customer” tariff proposed by the utility on April 24.

That tariff will dictate the terms under which We Energies will bill Microsoft and Vantage’s data centers for power as well as the new generation and transmission infrastructure built to serve their facilities.

Those facilities alone will have power needs of up to 3.9 gigawatts in the next five years. Lauber added that even if the utility did not add more data center customers, its two customers had the space to double their power demand.

“If you just look at the acreage and do some back-of-the-envelope math, these sites could add another four to five gigawatts of capacity on those sites alone,” he said.

Lauber said a referendum passed by Port Washington voters limiting the city’s ability to issue tax increment financing was not expected to prevent the Vantage data center from reaching the 1.3 gigawatts in forecasted demand over the next five years, nor the up to 3.5 gigawatts the site could reach over time.

“It’s more of a challenge, just in general, for data center development, but it should not affect any of the data center development we have outlined,” Lauber said.

He acknowledged a recent increase in municipalities passing moratoriums on data center development but downplayed concerns about local action.

The utility plans to spend some $37.5 billion in capital costs over the next five years. Lauber said he expects that some 15% of the utility’s generation assets will serve VLCs by 2030.

“We’re very confident that we can deliver all of the load growth needed,” Lauber said.

— Lauber also said the utility is not planning to renew its contracts with the Point Beach Nuclear Plant.

The executive cited high energy prices in WEC’s decision-making and said the utility would “most likely” replace the power generated by that facility with natural gas plants.

The utility has two power purchase agreements with Point Beach, Wisconsin’s sole operating commercial nuclear plant, that will expire in 2030 and 2033.

We Energies built the Point Beach plant in the 1960s and has continued to purchase power from the plant since selling it to NextEra Energy Resources in 2006.

The nuclear power plant has an up-to 1.2 gigawatt power output. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in September renewed the operating license for the plant’s two generating units for another 20 years, potentially extending the plant’s service life as far as to 2053.

NextEra could not immediately be reached for comment.

— In remarks before policymakers and industry leaders at a fusion energy event in Madison, Gov. Tony Evers said Wisconsin is bringing the country closer to making nuclear fusion a commercially viable source of energy.

Speaking at the Great Lakes Fusion Energy Summit, the governor praised the technology as “innovative … sustainable, clean and most importantly carbon-free” and said advancing the technology would support his administration’s goal of a carbon-free Wisconsin by 2050.

“It excites me to think that here in Wisconsin and through the entire Midwest, we are engaging and developing research and applying it to real-life problems to revolutionize how the entire world is powered,” Evers said.

The governor touted several bipartisan bills he signed last session to boost nuclear fusion. Those include a sales and use tax exemption for nuclear fusion materials as well as funding for a siting study for a fusion plant and a state board to advance nuclear energy in-state and host a national summit in 2028.

— Spring crop planting and field work is off to a relatively slow start in Wisconsin, according to the latest USDA figures.

The agency’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reports manure spreading, spring tillage and fertilizer application were happening last week “where fields were dry enough,” while farmers continued planting corn and soybeans.

But this year’s corn planting was 10% complete as of Sunday, below the five-year average of 15%. Oat planting was 29% finished, compared to the average of 41%. And soybean planting was 10% complete, down from the average of 13%.

Meanwhile, spring tillage was 35% complete — below the average of 44% for this time of year.

See more in the report.

— Wisconsin’s Interagency Council on Mental Health released a plan for how the state can better support mental health for residents, ranging from improving access to care to ensuring ongoing funding for key programs.

The report details various factors contributing to mental health challenges in the state, such as stigma keeping people from seeking help, federal funding changes jeopardizing services in the state, and the lack of integration between information systems at various state agencies.

While each state agency is responsible for operating its own systems, the council says having those “silos” in place leads to “inadvertent inefficiencies” and duplicated efforts.

“By eliminating additional red tape and paperwork, state agencies can help improve and expand access and ensure more Wisconsinites can access the care and services they need,” authors wrote.

To that end, the council is calling for an integrated state platform to help people navigate services spread across multiple agencies. The report also calls for an increased focus on getting ahead of mental health issues, by providing more trusted, accessible prevention resources for those who need them.

Meanwhile, the council suggests exploring coverage for peer specialists, community health workers and others within the state’s health plan, the state employee assistance program and other networks.

In hopes of improving access to care, the council urges partnering with telehealth providers and other organizations to offer more services in rural parts of the state, as well as for populations “needing culturally competent care.” Along with other suggestions, the report calls for pursuing interstate compacts so providers can work across state borders.

Department of Health Services Secretary Kirsten Johnson, who chairs the council, says the report was crafted after regional listening sessions and an online survey garnered responses from thousands of state residents.

“We identified common themes for what Wisconsin needs to help people build a strong mental health foundation, and how state agencies can support a more coordinated response,” she said yesterday in an online news conference.

See the full report and see more in a DHS release.

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