What happens when medical students rely on AI – and never develop their own judgment? | Simar Bajaj and Joseph Sakran
TL;DR
AI's danger in medicine isn't only that experienced doctors lose the ability to reason — it's that trainees may never build that ability at all. OpenEvidence, an AI chatbot for clinicians, is actively used by about two-thirds of US doctors for puzzling symptoms, drug interactions and clinical guidelines. A doctor who has forgotten how to reason can recover; one who never learned may not. That distinction, never-skilling rather than deskilling, puts medical training itself in question.
Nauti's Take
The opportunity is speed: OpenEvidence answers questions on drug interactions and guidelines in seconds that once cost residents half a night of literature work. The risk is structural, because a trainee who never wrestled through a differential cannot judge whether the answer is right.
Teaching hospitals should unlock the tool after the trainee commits to a read, not before.
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