On November 28th, the Clinical Medical Technology Innovation Conference of Tsinghua University was held at Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital in Beijing. From AI (Artificial Intelligence) empowering hospital management to AI assisted disease diagnosis and treatment, to the release of AI liver and gallbladder super doctor intelligent agents and "Qingxin" electrocardiogram models, AI has become a high-frequency term in this conference. Although he is 90 years old, Zhang Bo, an academician of the CAS Member and honorary president of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence of Tsinghua University, still appeared at the meeting and discussed a topic of great concern - doctors in the AI era. AI will profoundly change the healthcare industry, but in the foreseeable future, AI cannot completely replace doctors. ”Zhang Bo said. In the medical field, AI has a wide range of application scenarios. Zhang Bo gave an example that AI transforms medical records into standardized medical records, intelligent health managers provide follow-up services, AI assists in screening for retinal diseases, surgical robots accurately remove lesions... In terms of standardized and procedural work such as image interpretation, document processing, and health Q&A, AI has outstanding advantages and has gradually become the "digital comrade" of doctors. However, currently, AI has some limitations. ”Zhang Bo said that taking the big language model as an example, its operation is mainly driven by external factors rather than internal initiative. In addition, large language models lack true reasoning and causal understanding abilities, and their "black box" nature and unexplainability also raise concerns. More importantly, AI cannot yet achieve "self responsibility". In contrast, the behavior of human doctors has intrinsic motivation and reasoning and comprehension abilities, making them trustworthy and responsible. Based on this, the clinical diagnosis and treatment opinions provided by the big language model ultimately need to be reviewed by human doctors, "said Zhang Bo. Moreover, medical care is not just a competition of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, but also requires interaction full of humanistic care. Zhang Bo believes that AI is difficult to empathize and guide patients' emotions such as fear, anxiety, and anger; Faced with the uniqueness and personalized needs of individuals, AI finds it difficult to consider and make the best choices. The emotional appeals of patients and complex diagnosis and treatment scenarios are the blind spots of current algorithms, as well as the value anchor of human doctors. So, in what aspects will doctors play a role in the era of AI? Zhang Bo believes that in the future, doctors will be clinical decision-makers, making final choices after weighing complex factors such as risks, expectations, lifestyle treatments, and economic pressures. At the same time, doctors are process designers and communicators, who will complete essential parts of the treatment process - deep communication, value selection, and ethical judgment. In addition, doctors are also safety supervisors. In situations where data is imperfect and medical risks are high, doctors will take responsibility and guard the boundaries. In the foreseeable future, AI will not replace doctors, but will put higher demands on them. ”Zhang Bo said. In his view, understanding AI, using AI, and explaining AI are the basic competencies of future doctors. The clinical decision-making and systematic thinking abilities of future doctors should be stronger, and their communication skills and humanistic literacy will be "amplified". In addition, doctors' interdisciplinary collaboration and process reengineering abilities cannot be ignored, and their awareness of regulations, ethics, and safety should also be continuously enhanced. In the era of AI, doctors also need to maintain their self-renewal ability and use AI as a 'cheat'. ”Zhang Bo said that the half-life of medical knowledge is getting shorter and shorter, with new drugs, guidelines, and evidence emerging constantly. "AI can be your 'update radar' with you, but in the end, you still need to judge for yourself - which ones are worth using to change your own practices. ”In the era of AI accelerating healthcare transformation, the relationship between AI and doctors is not substitution but 'symbiosis'. ”Zhang Bo stated that in the era of AI, doctors can become decision-makers with judgment, communicators with warmth, and practitioners who understand the boundaries of technology. (New Society)