Exploring the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Rheumatology

I confess: When I initially read how the joints whispered to the clinician that they needed more humanism, I thought “What clichéd nonsense is this?” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the machine actually proposed the only path for rheumatology professionals to balance the risks and benefits of AI: We have to wholeheartedly embrace our own humanism. At this point in time, we need to ensure the greater efficiency provided by AI will afford us more agency to be humanistic to those whispering joints—and the humans that use them.

Altogether, this means we must prioritize our engagement with AI. Important first steps include increasing funding for research on informatics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, bolstering information technology support for clinical divisions, training fellows to familiarize themselves with AI and scrutinizing quality improvement work to ensure it embraces the principles of human-centered design. Moreover, we have to do this promptly, or events may swiftly overtake us. This is exemplified by the last, seemingly ominous, words of that AI-generated Rheuminations column:

The joints were happy and satisfied. Humanism prevailed, at least for the day.

Guest columnist Bharat Kumar, MD, MME, FACP, FAAAAI, RhMSUS, is the associate program director of the rheumatology fellowship training program at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. He will be assuming the reins of physician editor of The Rheumatologist from Philip Seo, MD, MHS, with the January 2023 issue. Follow him on Twitter @BharatKumarMD.

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