Solving problems that couldn’t be solved before

Physician Helen Ouyang argues that doctors shouldn’t reject AI:

A.I. may not replace doctors, but it will change what patients expect from us. Doctors need to adapt…

The reality is that many patients are already consulting A.I. Doctors can keep fearing or condemning those interactions, or they can figure out how to support people using A.I. tools for their health care — cautiously, with clear guardrails. I would never tell patients to ask ChatGPT or Claude for a diagnosis, but perhaps I would suggest they use it to make sense of a new condition or keep up with routine screenings — or translate “diet and exercise” into steps that actually fit into their lives, as I did.

She’s right. And she’s pointing at AI’s real potential. While much of the conversation is about the technology’s potential to replace work, the real story is how it can radically expand options.

Think about what that means in medicine. Patients who would never book an appointment for a minor concern can get a useful answer. Vague advice — “diet and exercise” — gets translated into steps that actually fit someone’s life. Doctors can spend their time seeing more patients or helping the patients who need them most, not fielding questions that don’t require a physician.

This is already how AI is playing out in other industries. Axios’ Jim VandeHei explains how it’s unlocking new possibilities in journalism: “The bigger opportunity isn’t efficiency. It’s new business lines that were economically impossible before AI.”

More people solving more problems that couldn’t be solved before.