Artificial Intelligence Healthcare Industry Expert Perspectives: How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Physician...

Rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into health care is transforming the physician role, necessitating curricular reform. However, perspectives of AI health care industry experts are rarely considered. This study explored their views on the evolving physician role and AI-related adaptations to undergraduate medical education.

Participants were recruited via purposive and snowball sampling for a cross-sectional qualitative study using an online survey and live interviews. Participants compared AI and physician skills and shared perspectives on proposed AI-related learning objectives. Data were collected from August to September 2024 and underwent inductive thematic analysis until reaching sufficiency.

Thirteen AI health care industry experts participated. Three themes reflected shifting perceptions of the physician role and one focused on adaptations to medical education. Experts anticipate that AI tools will augment rather than replace physicians and physician roles will shift away from administrative tasks toward human-centered aspects of care. Participants highlighted that medical students must be able to understand, appraise, and interpret AI tools while retaining sufficient skills to operate in the absence of AI.

Three insights emerged as follows: AI technologies will augment rather than replace physicians; educators should adapt curricula to prioritize humanistic competencies over administrative tasks; and integration of AI health care industry expert perspectives is valuable for comprehensive curriculum development.