Practitioners as builders
Scientific and medical progress often came from practitioners who refined or built the instruments needed to make their ideas real.
Digital tools moved away from physicians
Modern clinical work is shaped by software systems that physicians must use but often cannot meaningfully control.
AI changes who can build
Natural-language interfaces lower the barrier between a physician's workflow vision and working software that supports documentation, communication, staff tasks, and patient instructions.
The choice to participate
AI will enter medical workflows either way. The question is whether physicians help shape those tools around clinical work or inherit another generation of administrative systems.