Midlevel + AI combination effects on future employment
I know AI is a meme topic for the most part, but this is a genuine concern I'm worried about when thinking of which specialty to choose as a med student.
How do we think different specialties will be affected in terms of employment and salary by midlevels using AI? I don't mean AI on its own, I mean autonomous midlevels practicing with a clinically validated AI assistant tool. In this case, midlevels handle the "human element" people often cite as protecting medicine as a career, and the hypothetical AI handles the midlevels' knowledge gaps. If the outcomes from this become "good enough" in a financial sense, I can see hospitals and health systems adopting this to save money as they could hire 2-3 midlevels for the same price as 1 physician.
This is of course a big if - I'm not saying this will happen, but asking your thoughts on what may happen if this becomes a common model. Is there realistic possibility of this affecting jobs and salaries, and which specialties you think will be affected the most?
I'm primarily interested in cognitive specialties that already have heavy midlevel presence (IM, critical care, etc.) which I feel are hospital admin are eager to cut costs in. I'm not sure if I should be considering something else or what kind of contingency plan I should have.