Will AI replace doctors?
This week I attended the AI in Health Summit, an event hosted by Economist Impact at the Royal College of Physicians in London focused on the topic of how AI will impact healthcare.
The event featured several panel discussions, with topics ranging from the highly practical — e.g. ‘Integrating AI systems into clinical practice and care delivery’; ‘How to incorporate AI into daily practice’ — to the unapologetically philosophical — e.g. ‘Balancing bits and ethics: navigating the moral maze for a healthier future’.
Of all the questions and issues discussed throughout the day, one stood out both in terms of the frequency with which it came up and the strength of feeling it elicited from speakers: whether we should expect to see doctors lose their jobs to AI.
Most speakers seemed to think we should not. More than one person mentioned the fact that Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist, predicted in 2016 that within five years all radiologists would be out of a job, but now in 2025 we have more radiologists than we did in 2016.
Only one speaker seemed to think this contention was premature. Gabriele Papievyte, who works for XTX Ventures, a venture capital firm which is backing multiple AI-based health tech firms, said we should expect to see at least some clinicians lose their jobs because of AI. An audience member caused a bit of commotion when she chimed with this view, asking “if it can do the job better, why not?”.
Most speakers were clear, however, that AI should be seen as a powerful tool that should be made use of for specific tasks that it can do faster than humans, but one that we shouldn’t anthropomorphise or offload critical judgement or moral responsibility to. Nicola Byrne, who works for the UK’s National Data Guardian, a quango, cautioned against using misleading language such as referring to the NHS App as a ‘doctor in your pocket’.
It’s surely become a cliché by now, but that didn’t stop one speaker from venturing: “It won’t be AI that takes their job, it will be another doctor who can use AI tools better than them”.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Martin De Benito Gellner or call 0207 183 3779.
