About whether LLMs will take over most of the mental work done by doctors.
Has this happened?
Yes 32 (29%)Not sure 43 (39%)No 34 (31%)
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
Hacker News has set AI a lot of challenges over the years. Which ones has it met?
About whether LLMs will take over most of the mental work done by doctors.
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
That is not obvious, and at least in the case of physicians is unlikely to come to pass. They don't just take a written list of signs and symptoms as input, and produce a diagnosis as output. Often the evidence they use to make a diagnosis isn't even written down anywhere. And for most primary care cases, the diagnosis is only a minor part of the workflow. The hard part is in working with the patient to make a practical treatment plan, and then course correcting as needed based on results. This is as much art as science, and relies on tacit knowledge that no LLM can access.
In order to automate most medical care we'll need multiple breakthroughs that go way beyond LLMs. Linear improvements in LLMs won't get us there.
LLMs do have potential to improve other areas of clinical practice such as charting.