"Focusing on Judgment and Care... AI Will Fundamentally Change the Role of Doctors"

AI Expected to Replace Much of Administrative and Technical Work
"Adoption Will Be Natural Once Convenience Is Recognized"

It has been predicted that as artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly replaces administrative and technical work in the medical and healthcare fields, the role of medical professionals will become more focused on judgment and patient care. 'User-friendliness' was cited as a key condition for the successful adoption of AI.

At the '2025 World Bio Summit Panel Discussion' held on the 17th at the Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, Kim Juhan, Vice President of Research and Director of Industry-Academic Cooperation at Seoul National University (first from the left), is delivering the opening remarks on the topic of 'Future Directions of Medical AI Services.' Photo by Choi Taewon

On the 17th, the '2025 World Bio Summit,' co-hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the World Health Organization (WHO), featured a panel discussion on the topic of 'Future Directions of Medical AI Services.'

Healthcare experts from around the world who attended the event unanimously agreed that AI will fundamentally change the role of doctors. As AI automates simple and repetitive tasks, medical professionals will be able to concentrate more on the unique roles that only humans can perform.

In the future, doctors will develop strategies for final treatment decisions based on the vast data analyzed by AI, while also empathizing with and communicating with patients. AI will be responsible for efficiency, allowing doctors to focus even more on the human aspects of care.

Ran Balicer, Chief Investment Officer of Clalit Health Services in Israel, stated, "Administrative paperwork and technical approval processes currently handled by doctors will largely be replaced by AI in the future," adding, "The reason for attending medical school will shift from technical tasks to connecting with people, engaging in conversations, and making judgments."

While medical professionals care for patients, AI will manage hospital operations and other tasks. Ong Jia Ng Kiyuan, Chief Technology Officer of the National University Health System in Singapore, said, "In Singapore, we are already using AI agents to predict the number of emergency patients and optimize medical staff schedules on a monthly basis," and added, "Administrative work that used to take people dozens of hours is now being automated by AI."

He further noted, "This change is expected to do more than just improve work efficiency; it will create an environment where the entire medical workforce can move away from exhausting administrative work and focus on more creative and meaningful tasks."

There was also analysis that for AI to take root in medical settings, it must be easy and convenient for anyone to use, overcoming the complexity of the technology.

Ye Jongcheol, professor at the KAIST Graduate School of AI, explained, "The secret to successful AI is making it so that users are unaware of what goes on behind the scenes," and continued, "Just as we intuitively use smartphones without knowing the complex technical protocols, medical AI should feel the same way to doctors and patients." He predicted that if the necessity and convenience of AI are sufficiently communicated to both patients and medical staff, AI will be adopted as naturally as smartphones.

On the other hand, there were also calls for regulations to establish a trustworthy medical AI ecosystem. Drawing lessons from the confusion caused by hackers and malware in the early days of the internet in the 1990s, it was argued that regulations are needed to prevent the misuse of medical AI.

Chief Technology Officer Ong Jia Ng Kiyuan emphasized, "If hackers creating malware had not been stopped back then, the problems would not have been resolved," and added, "There must be regulations to prevent the misuse of AI, so that its true potential can be realized."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.