Artificial intelligence for surgical education: The never-sleeping attending

Artificial intelligence is rapidly emerging as a transformative tool in surgical education, with early studies demonstrating its potential to make training more efficient, equitable, and scalable. Anticipated applications include developing personalized learner profiles and employing predictive modeling to accelerate learning curves. The early success of artificial intelligence largely stems from its ability to analyze learner data objectively and at a scale beyond human capability. It also enables asynchronous and remote learning, thereby expanding access and availability. Furthermore, artificial intelligence enhances the acquisition of both psychomotor and cognitive skills by integrating real-time technical feedback and personalized learning strategies. Current artificial intelligence solutions remain complementary to existing methods of surgical training, though the degree of autonomy and the footprint in education are rapidly increasing. While artificial intelligence shows strong potential to revolutionize and democratize surgical education, caution is warranted regarding the safety, validity, transferability, and clinical utility of skills acquired in artificial intelligence-augmented learning environments. Future work must determine whether artificial intelligence-analyzed training data translate into actionable feedback for learners and ultimately safer surgery for patients. Adaptive practice with clear, evidence-based regulatory guidance will be essential to the safe and effective adoption of artificial intelligence in surgical education.