AI cannot replace the doctor
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming medicine at a speed unimaginable just a few years ago. It helps us analyze images with great precision, manage and analyze large volumes of data with agility, and advance research more quickly. It is a powerful tool that is already part of our present and will also shape the future of healthcare.
But data isn't everything. Patients often present with atypical symptoms, comorbidities, or social factors that require clinical interpretation. Uncertainty is inherent in medicine, and the context in which an illness occurs is complex and dynamic. This space, where discernment and judgment are essential, remains the exclusive domain of a physician's human perspective.
Furthermore, AI models can incorporate biases if they have been trained on unrepresentative data, which can lead to erroneous recommendations. Continuous monitoring and expert professional judgment are essential: technology can suggest, but cannot make, decisions that have real consequences for people's health and lives.
AI cannot replace the doctor. Medicine is not just about recognizing patterns in images or data; it is a profoundly human activity that integrates information, experience, and clinical judgment. Practicing medicine means understanding each patient's history, listening to them, examining them, noticing signs—sometimes subtle—that no algorithm would take into account, and placing everything within their vital, emotional, and social context. It means making decisions that involve risks, responsibilities, and values. It requires respecting patient autonomy, establishing priorities, and weighing human, ethical, and legal responsibilities. This ultimate responsibility is inherent to the professional. No automated system can assume it.
AI can accurately detect an anomaly on a scan, but only a doctor can discern what it means and what it might imply for that specific person, at their stage of life, and with their values. AI can calculate risks, but only a doctor can guide the decision-making process, explain options, manage fears, provide effective emotional support, and make sense of the information. Trust, empathy, and communication cannot be programmed. They are built and nurtured because they are the heart of the doctor-patient relationship, the space where care begins.
The doctor-patient relationship is absolutely essential for healing. Sometimes, that relationship itself is a form of healing. AI is changing how we interact with patients, who have often already asked about their symptoms before consulting a doctor. Healthcare professionals must be prepared for this shift and learn new ways to build trust with patients.
This doesn't diminish the value of AI; on the contrary, it makes it indispensable and invaluable as a support tool. The combination of advanced technology, clinical judgment, and human experience is what guarantees more precise, safer, and more personalized medicine.
The challenge, then, is not to pit doctors against technology, but to make AI accessible to professionals in their daily work and, above all, to put it at the service of patients in a responsible, safe, ethical, and useful way. Because medicine has always progressed when it has combined scientific knowledge with a human perspective.
AI can help us a lot. But the essential thing—caring for, supporting, and making decisions with and for people—remains an irreplaceable human asset.