AI is being utilized in a variety of industries, and while it is likely to replace some jobs, it is also creating new ones. In healthcare in particular, AI can help with diagnosis and treatment, but it will never be able to completely replace human doctors.
AI is a technology that can solve problems by implementing human perception, reasoning, and learning abilities using computer technology. AI is already widely applied in a variety of industries. For example, AI uses deep learning technology and image recognition to drive cars without human assistance. Internet search engines like Google also use AI to recognize ambiguity and colloquialisms in search queries and combine that information to find information that is close to what you’re looking for, or to refer to previously searched queries to help you find what you’re looking for. AI is also being utilized in customer support, translation services, content generation, and more through natural language processing techniques. For example, chatbots can respond to customer questions in real time, and translators can translate between languages more accurately and quickly.
With so many applications of AI, there is a growing concern that AI will replace human jobs. According to “The Future of Employment: How Sensitive Are Our Jobs to Computerization” by Professors Karl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne, the occupations with the highest rates of automation replacement are concrete masons (#1), butchers and slaughterers (#2), and rubber and plastics manufacturers (#3). In general, the most automation-sensitive occupations are those with simple, repetitive tasks. However, a deeper analysis reveals that insurance adjusters (40th), general practitioners (55th), and air traffic controllers (79th) are among the most likely to be replaced by AI. This is surprising because research, management, and professional jobs have been considered safe from automation. This trend suggests that we need to look more closely at how the world of work will change as AI advances.
In addition, according to the Korea Employment Information Center’s ‘Job Impact Study on Technological Change’ report, 42.5% of doctors and 66.2% of nurses will be replaced by 2025. Compared to accountants, who are expected to be replaced at a 22% rate, and senior executives, who are expected to be replaced at a 32% rate, doctors and nurses have a high replacement rate even among professions known as specialties. Furthermore, the World Economic Forum’s 2023 report predicts that 85 million jobs will be lost over the next five years while 97 million new jobs will be created, reflecting the impact of AI and automation.
On the other hand, there are new jobs that will be created by AI. New job roles are emerging, including AI developers, data scientists, and ethical AI specialists, which means ongoing education and training for new skills and roles.
The medical community is already using AI-powered supercomputers to diagnose, treat, and conduct clinical trials on human diseases. IBM, an American information technology (IT) company, developed Watson, an AI supercomputer. Since 2011, Watson has been used to diagnose lung cancer patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. It also uses image analysis technology to examine cancer tissue, analyze imaging medical data, and warn of emergencies before they occur based on vital sign data such as electrocardiograms. It can analyze continuous blood glucose data to predict hypoglycemia in advance, or integrate personal genetic information and health data from wearable devices to provide personalized health advice.
However, there are also problems with AI-assisted treatment. Despite the use of advanced medical devices and technologies in the diagnosis and treatment process, the complexity of medical data has increased, making it impossible to proceed with traditional approaches. Even for the same disease, symptoms vary depending on an individual’s health status, lifestyle, and genetic information, so average medicine may not work for some patients or cause serious side effects. In addition, it is difficult to select meaningful data to utilize in the treatment process from the vast and diverse medical big data. If only AI is used to treat patients, it cannot fill in the gaps that only humans can do, such as communicating with patients and resolving psychological instability.
Therefore, AI cannot completely replace the role of a doctor or nurse. Even if A.I. becomes more advanced and solves the current problems, I don’t think it can completely replace the role of human doctors. I think the final medical decision-making is something that can never be replaced. A doctor’s judgment and experience include human emotions and intuition, which cannot be easily replicated by AI. However, the role of doctors is expected to change. The total number of doctors needed may decrease. For example, doctors from pathology and radiology will be replaced by AI, as their job is to analyze the material given to them based on data.
The remaining doctors will have to find and perform tasks that AI will not be able to replace. For example, doctors and nurses will be responsible for the sophisticated parts of diagnosing patients’ diseases and performing surgeries, while AI will be responsible for answering patients’ questions and providing psychological counseling. In addition, as AI develops, doctors will need to be trained to increase their human skills that AI cannot do. For example, I think more emphasis should be placed on education that develops research skills and creativity in new fields, and the ability to critically recognize data to differentiate it from AI that simply accepts all the data it collects. Finally, I think we need to increase education on humanistic and communication skills to treat patients humanely. By increasing such training, AI and doctors will be able to coexist by having human skills that distinguish them from AI. In this way, AI and human collaboration will contribute to improving the quality of healthcare and providing more comprehensive and personalized care.
