By now, we should know that artificial intelligence is here (probably, for good), and it will affect the global workforce. The question many of us are asking is whether AI will be a positive for those with jobs or if unanimous reliance on this new technology will make all of our jobs obsolete, leaving us without a way to make money.

Some say AI will be a boon. Some say it will be a burden. Maybe it will be somewhere in between. Who’s to know for sure? For the most part, though, the 1,400 physicians surveyed recently by Doximity feel optimistic that AI will be a positive for them in their careers.

In the 2026 Doximity Physician Compensation Report, 78% of doctors agreed that the “growing role of AI in medicine has either increased their sense of job security or not changed it at all.” Almost one-fourth (23%) of physicians surveyed said that they expect the growing role of AI to increase their total compensation within the next year, and 67% of those surveyed said that those who learn about AI “will have a meaningful earnings advantage over colleagues who don’t adopt [it] during the next 12 months.”

I’m a little more skeptical than that, but according to these docs, AI seems like it will benefit physicians, their jobs, and their bank accounts.

How Do Doctors Feel About AI?

Here are some other interesting AI tidbits from Doximity:

  • Two-thirds of docs say they use AI on a daily or weekly basis as part of their work (either clinical or administrative), though most survey-takers (72%) say that “AI is not changing the physician’s role in their specialty.” As you might expect, those in their 30s and 40s use AI more often than those who are older. Wrote Doximity, “Younger physicians were not only more likely to use AI daily or weekly but also more likely to report that the technology is reducing their workload.”
  • Perhaps not surprisingly, many docs feel they should be the ones to benefit financially if AI makes them more efficient workers. According to the survey, 44% said physicians should make more money “if AI allows physicians to complete more clinical work in the same amount of time.” Meanwhile, 17% said patients should benefit through lower costs, 11% believe the windfall should go to physician employers and/or health systems, and 20% said the savings should be shared.
  • Perhaps the most interesting piece of the survey was that docs don’t seem concerned that AI will lead to massive job losses. And that percentage rises the older a doc gets. Only 55% of physicians under the age of 30 said AI has increased their job security or not affected it at all, but those who are among the 60-69 crowd, 90% believe AI is good for their job security (maybe that’s because many of those docs won’t be in the workforce for much longer anyway). At 85%, surgeons also believe their jobs are safe.

What Should Docs Do About AI?

Along with many of us in the workforce, we’re probably going to have to live with AI whether we like the idea or not. You should use it to your advantage. In the survey, 20% of docs said they’re already facing higher productivity expectations because of AI.

Here’s some good advice from Metaintro.

“If you are a physician, get specific about your own numbers before the conversation reaches you. Know how much time your AI tools actually save, in which parts of your workflow, and what happened to your patient volume over the same period. A fifth of your colleagues already report higher productivity expectations, and the person who has measured the change is in a far better position than the person describing an impression.

Raise it at contract renewal rather than in the abstract. The report shows nearly half of physicians believe they should be the primary beneficiary of AI-enabled volume gains, which means the position is mainstream within the profession rather than an outlier ask. That is worth knowing before you assume you are alone in raising it.

Treat AI proficiency as a credential. With 39% reporting it as a hiring factor within their specialty and most respondents expecting an earnings advantage from staying current, this has already moved from curiosity to competitive necessity. If you are choosing where to invest limited professional development time, this is a defensible place to put it.”

Like with any other CME you’re expected to complete, it makes sense to continue learning about the benefits of AI and how you can incorporate it into your work life. Maybe consider attending WCICON27 in Orlando, where one physician speaker will give a talk about Getting Your Life Back: Using AI to Reduce Administrative Burden and Reclaim Your Time at Home.

Or take the advice of one commenter on the WCI subreddit: “Physicians who learn to use AI efficiently will be fine—those that refuse to use it will fall behind.”

More information here:

Money Song of the Week

If you’re big into musical theater, you probably know that two major shows of the last 30 years feature songs sung by characters living in New York City who long to travel to and live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of the musicals, Newsies, is set in 1899 and features mostly teenage boys who are trying to sell newspapers to survive, and the other, Rent, is set in the 1990s and features mostly young adults grappling with self-identities and disease. But both have tunes that fantasize about the slower pace and lower cost of living that will enable them to be happier if they moved across the country.

Jack Kelly from Newsies sings, “Plantin’ crops/Splittin’ rails/Swappin’ tales around the fire/Except for Sunday when you lie around all day. Soon your friends are more like family/And they’re beggin’ you to stay/Ain’t that neat?/Livin’ sweet/In Santa Fe.”

Tom Collins from Rent sings, “Let’s open up a restaurant in Santa Fe. Sunny Santa Fe would be nice.”

Since Rent celebrated its 30th birthday last month with a live stream performance from most of the original Broadway cast and many of its other alumni, let’s focus on the first song about Santa Fe to emerge (Rent opened its curtains in 1996, 16 years before Newsies, even though Newsies is set about 100 years before Rent).

Sung by Tom Collins, a professor of computer age philosophy who (apparently) longs to contribute to the food and wine scene in New Mexico’s capital, he explains his reasoning to his partner, Angel, and his friend, Mark.

As Collins, played in the clip below by Michael McElroy, sings,

“You’re a sensitive aesthete/Brush the sauce onto the meat/You can make the menu sparkle with rhyme.

You can drum a gentle drum/I could seat guests as they come/Chatting not about Heidegger but wine.

Let’s open up a restaurant in Santa Fe/Our labors would reap financial gains/We’ll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe/And save from devastation our brains.”

Note: there is one cuss word in the tune.

As for why two major musicals focus on the same small city 2,000 miles from where they reside, here are OnStage Blog’s thoughts on the matter:

“For Jack Kelly [the main character of Newsies], Santa Fe means distance. For Collins and Angel, it means calm. But underneath both is a shared idea: agency. Each character dreams of a life where they’re in control. That’s the heart of every ‘I want’ song . . . The yearning for self-determination is what makes musical theatre characters sing in the first place.

There’s also something specifically American about choosing Santa Fe. The mythology of the West—wide-open spaces, new beginnings, self-invention—is baked into our collective imagination. Broadway, being New York’s artistic heartbeat, has always been the opposite of that: crowded, electric, competitive . . . It’s a natural counterpoint.

. . . You need a dream to survive the grind. Jack never rides off into the sunset, and Collins never opens his restaurant, but both find peace in the idea that something better exists—even if only in imagination.”

More information here:

Reel of the Week

Even DINKS apparently are having trouble affording their highfalutin’ ways.

Are you worried about AI? How do you think it will impact your job security and your finances? Do you worry that AI will eventually make your job obsolete?

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