AI is going to be shifting the way we work, and it’ll be interesting to see how it sorts out. While AI will be creating quite a few new jobs, it’s certainly going to take some away as well.
In reading Yuval Noah Harari’s book “Nexus“, and similar to what I’ve heard elsewhere, he explains how AI is likely to replace doctors before it replaces nurses:
“Similarly, to judge by their pay, you could assume that our society appreciates doctors more than nurses. However, it is harder to automate the job of nurses than the job of at least those doctors who mostly gather medical data, provide a diagnosis, and recommend treatment. These tasks are essentially pattern recognition, and spotting patterns in data is one thing AI does better than humans.
In contrast, AI is far from having the skills necessary to automate nursing tasks such as replacing bandages on an injured person or giving an injection to a crying child. These two examples don’t mean that dish washing or nursing could never be automated, but they indicate that people who want a job in 2050 should perhaps invest in their motor and social skills as much as in their intellect.”
I first mentioned this idea about two years ago, and showed how doctors can make great use of AI today already. If AI can do a good job of scanning an X-ray, why not have it take a look first and then have the doctor follow-up on any areas that it think it found?
For today, that’s fantastic. In the future, why have the doctor look at all? If the AI tool can do a significantly better job, then let it do it.
It’s a lot like the idea (and surprise) of AI going after white-collar jobs before it goes after blue-collar jobs. It makes sense with our view today, but in the past it seemed like it would be the other way around.
The same is true with doctors and nurses, and it’s becoming more clear that AI will replace doctors first. Granted, I don’t see this shift happening anytime real soon, but it seems likely to happen eventually.
