When I trained in medicine, the learning path was predictable. Long nights of memorizing anatomy. Standing beside seasoned physicians in hospital hallways. Slowly absorbing the craft of diagnosis through repetition and proximity. It was an apprenticeship built on pattern recognition, intuition, and accumulated wisdom.

What I did not learn was how to practice medicine in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. That education came much later. It arrived quietly at first through early discussions about machine learning and diagnostic tools that could outperform residents on imaging interpretation. It grew louder as new systems emerged that could ambiently create clinical notes or triage symptoms more efficiently than a busy call center. Eventually, this evolution forced a central question in my career: What is the role of the physician when machines can assist, anticipate, and automate?

For many clinicians, the first response to AI is uncertainty. Does this threaten the profession we worked so hard to join? Will algorithms erode the human connection that drew us into medicine? These concerns are natural, but as I leaned into the technology rather than away from it, I began to see something very different: AI is not replacing medicine; it is reshaping its delivery. It is asking physicians to elevate our humanity, not abandon it. Throughout my nearly three decades in family medicine across a busy rural region, I watched the system become increasingly burdened by administrative requirements and workflow friction. The profession I loved was losing time and attention to tasks that did not require a medical degree. That tension created a realization that has guided my work ever since: If physicians do not lead the integration of AI into clinical practice, someone else will. And if they do, the result will be a weaker version of care.

My own work in this space has focused on designing what an efficient, AI-enabled physician workflow can look like. I became convinced that clinical judgment should be amplified by structured data collection, intelligent automation, and adaptive digital tools that operate within the safety rails of physician-approved guidelines. This is the relationship between AI and medicine that I believe is worth building: not AI to replace the doctor, but AI to support the doctor; not automation that overrides judgment, but automation that enhances it. This journey has changed how I think about the very tools of medical practice. I am now supported as much by the software frameworks I have helped design as by the stethoscope around my neck. This does not diminish the importance of traditional instruments; instead, it reinforces a truth I have known for decades: The medical history remains the central driver of diagnosis, and when that history is gathered through dynamic, structured, and clinically engaged digital methods, it becomes even more powerful than what a rushed in-person encounter often allows.

Traditional intake forms and static questionnaires are insufficient for the level of clinical precision, safety, and regulatory compliance required in modern asynchronous care. Digital systems must now gather information in the same structured, logical sequence that a well-trained medical team uses. AI does not diagnose; it assists. It collects. It helps ensure that the physician receives a complete and clinically meaningful dataset. The physician still interprets that information, asks clarifying questions, and remains responsible for the medical decision. The future of medicine requires more than clinical knowledge; it requires digital fluency. Physicians will need to understand how data is collected, how digital triage frameworks function, how risk triggers are built, and how to evaluate whether an AI system aligns with ethical practice, clinical safety, and appropriate scope. If we want AI to reflect the values of our profession, physicians must be architects, not bystanders.

As physicians adapt to this new digital landscape, we must also recognize that patients are evolving alongside us. The same technologies that are reshaping clinical workflows are reshaping patient expectations. Understanding how patients now seek information, access care, and make decisions is essential if we hope to design AI-enabled systems that genuinely meet their needs. Patients increasingly expect care that is immediate, intuitive, accessible, and affordable. This shift is not a threat to medicine; it is a signal. It tells us that modern consumers no longer view health care as something that must be delayed, scheduled, or intermediated through layers of insurance and administrative steps. They want clarity the moment symptoms emerge. They want to know whether they need treatment, whether the condition is self-limited, or whether they simply need to stay home from work or school.

This expectation is what drove me to design a digital workflow capable of delivering a safe, structured, ten-minute medical encounter at any hour of the day. When appropriately engineered, these systems allow patients to access high-quality triage for free and receive timely guidance without the barriers that have long frustrated both patients and clinicians. And when further care is needed, digital pathways should offer immediate, reasonably priced solutions that avoid insurance barriers, prior authorizations, and unnecessary administrative burden. Patients are already turning to chatbots and online tools in search of answers. The question for our profession is simple: Will those answers come from generic commercial systems, or will they come from physician-designed frameworks grounded in clinical rigor and ethical practice? If physicians lead this space, we can ensure that digital care expands access without compromising safety. That begins with embracing digital fluency as a core clinical skill.

Meeting these evolving patient expectations is only half of the equation. The other half is ensuring that clinicians can sustain this level of responsiveness without being overwhelmed by the very system they are trying to support. The same digital tools that expand access for patients must also relieve the workload pressures that have contributed to burnout across every specialty. AI can help reduce clinician workload. It can improve safety. It can detect patterns long before they are clinically obvious. It can perform structured tasks with perfect consistency. What AI cannot do is replace the human commitment to healing. In fact, the more digitally powered our clinical systems become, the more important the physician’s role becomes. We must ensure that every tool serves the patient before it serves the algorithm.

The next generation of physicians will not choose between stethoscopes and software; they will require both. They will need emotional intelligence and data literacy. They will need to understand physiology and information architecture. They will need to translate between clinical intuition and computational precision. The future doctor will not be defined by replacement, but by empowerment. In the age of AI, that is the only sustainable path forward for our profession and for the patients who rely on us.

Tod Stillson is a board-certified family physician, medical device inventor, and health care entrepreneur focused on redesigning how care is delivered in the digital age. He is the founder and CEO of ChatRx, a national asynchronous telemedicine company providing safe, efficient, direct-to-consumer care for common acute conditions. Through ChatRx, Dr. Stillson developed an FDA-listed software medical device that combines structured clinical pathways with AI-supported decision tools to preserve physician judgment while reducing friction for patients.

Dr. Stillson holds an academic affiliation with the Indiana University School of Medicine and a hospital affiliation with McPherson Center for Health. After nearly three decades practicing rural family medicine, he shifted from traditional employment to building physician-led digital systems that expand access, efficiency, and professional autonomy.

He is the author of Doctor Incorporated: Stop the Insanity of Traditional Employment and Preserve Your Professional Autonomy and has published more than 400 essays on physician entrepreneurship, micro-business, digital health, and the future of medical practice. He contributes nationally to conversations on AI-enabled care delivery and physician leadership in digital transformation.

Dr. Stillson shares ongoing insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.