Jonathan H. Chen, Associate Professor of Medicine (Computational Medicine) and Biomedical Data Science at Stanford Health Care, combines his experience as a practising clinician and AI researcher to explore how human and artificial intelligence can work together to deliver better care.

Pandora’s box has opened in the form of publicly accessible generative AI systems, now applied to every imaginable—and many unintended—purpose. These emerging technologies challenge the fundamental theorem of informatics: that the combination of human and machine outperforms either alone.

When AI alone can match or surpass human–computer teams in complex medical reasoning, we are forced to reconsider the foundations of relevant clinical expertise.

With a global shortage of medical professionals and an overwhelming demand for healthcare, AI’s potential to democratise knowledge, expand access, and restore efficiency is both awe-inspiring and urgently needed.

These advances compel us to ask: What makes a doctor a doctor—or any professional truly human—in this new era? Confronting these existential questions will have profound implications for practice, pedagogy, and policy.