About whether AI could replace doctors who rely on intuition, such as anesthesiologists.
Has this happened?
Yes 11 (11%)Not sure 58 (56%)No 34 (33%)
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 AI could replace doctors who rely on intuition, such as anesthesiologists.
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
A patient who is vomiting blood does not need a "vibe" or "spidey-sense" to figure out something is wrong. There are, however, a surprisingly large number of situations in which doctors have to work with rather less information about what is going on, especially when you move to the hospital.
I'm an anesthesiologist, so I don't have a clinic at all. I meet you just before surgery and we go. Vibes and spidey-senses matter a lot, because I don't have time to run down a two-week-long investigation of your problem - I have to fix it right now or you're dead.
Could AI improve me? Probably. Can the AI observe the way humans can? Not yet. Can they intervene like humans can? Not even close. When you have an autonomous robot that can successfully run down the American Society of Anesthesiologists' difficult airway algorithm, you're getting there.