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Eric Angermeier's avatar

I have no doubt AI tech will far exceed our abilities in the “cognitive” domains of medicine in the relatively near future. Even those skills we now think of as uniquely “human” such as building trust and demonstrating empathy will soon be eclipsed by AI. Sure, there will be some that never “trust” AI as they would a human, much like there are some that still don’t “trust” airplanes. For most, the value proposition will be too great to ignore. 24-7 access everywhere to inexpensive cutting edge medical expertise delivered in a manner optimized uniquely to the patient and their communication preferences.

It’s interesting that you didn’t mention physical examination as one of the uniquely “human” physician abilities. I think the human touch might be one of the more difficult things to replicate, although certainly not impossible. Robotics have already made their mark in many surgical fields, but these are still largely surgeon assisted. AI is already excelling at reading imaging studies. So far I haven’t met an AI or robot that can perform a Phalen’s test for carpal tunnel syndrome, but seems like something Elon’s Optimus could easily learn.

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