The "inconvenient truth" about AI in healthcare

François-Marie Arouet, 18th century French author and iconoclast, better known as Voltaire, quipped, "The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." Though medicine has progressed in the intervening centuries it remains an art informed by science: both the art of bearing witness, of helping people find meaning in the maelstrom of life's immediate and existential challenges and the less appreciated art of managing uncertainty. It is in this latter regard that AI, broadly speaking, holds promise. Precision medicine, optimised systems and proactive population health have all been forecast but arguably more important is the potential liberation of the time and ingenuity of clinicians to do what they are uniquely able to do - to care for other people. Humans doing what humans do best.