The rise of artificial intelligence means doctors must redefine what they do

We work under the threat of being replaced by machines smarter than us. Vinod Khosla, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, says that the medical profession is approaching extinction and predicts that the majority of our work will eventually be outsourced to algorithms and other artificial tools of clinical reasoning. But I think my profession is headed to evolution, not extinction. Much of what we once did with our eyes, hands, and ears has been replaced by machines. In my corner of the United States, a child who comes to an emergency department with abdominal pain is likely to have a CT scan before ever being examined by a physician.