NEWS
The doctor’s dilemma: To speak, or stay comfortable in the age of AI
"It will not replace human care, but it may be the only way to preserve access where human clinicians can no longer stay," AMA Queensland Committee of General Practice Chair Dr Lee Jones writes about AI.
Written by Committee of General Practice Chair Dr Lee Jason Jones
For most of my career, I’ve worked within the system – but not passively.
Inside clinics and policy circles, I’ve fought hard for patients and for truth. I’ve pushed against legacy thinking, challenged convenient silence and spoken plainly in rooms where plain speech wasn’t always welcome.
I’ve done this not to provoke, but because I believe the medical profession must do more than appear reasonable. It must act courageously.
Now, as the system nears irreversible change, I’m realising something else: being loud behind the scenes isn’t enough. We need to lead publicly.
What I saw early, and what I still see now
I grew up in Papua New Guinea. From a young age, I saw suffering up close. Not just illness, but the way distance, disconnection and under-resourcing turn treatable conditions into life-altering loss.
Now, working in Far North Queensland, I see many of the same structural failures here, just better dressed.
I’ve come to understand something confronting: our current health system is still failing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
We speak often about ‘Closing the Gap’, the national project to bring life expectancy and health outcomes for First Nations people in line with the rest of Australia.
But in practice, preventable diseases still go undetected, chronic illness is poorly managed, access is delayed or denied and outcomes remain generationally worse.
We are not closing the gap, we are administrating around it.
What we call Australia’s ‘world-leading’ healthcare system is still operating within a structure that was not built by, for or with First Nations communities in mind.
And it’s not just Indigenous health; it’s rural health more broadly.
Across regional Australia, doctors and healthcare workers are choosing not to stay. Many are retiring, burning out or quietly leaving the system. We have no sustained workforce strategy for these towns. No long-term plan for who will remain.
But there is a solution, and it’s not wishful thinking.
It’s artificial intelligence.
AI systems, deployed responsibly, could provide immediate diagnostic support, reduce dependence on overstretched staff, extend specialist care into the most remote communities and give patients real-time guidance when no clinician is physically present.
It will not replace human care, but it may be the only way to preserve access where human clinicians can no longer stay.
Inside the profession, and the courage we must find
There are many people in our profession who believe deeply in a system that serves patients, protects clinicians and improves health outcomes at scale.
But there is also drift.
Lobbying from external groups – many of whom fund both sides of politics – continues to distort healthcare priorities. It is structurally corrosive to good governance and it’s time to end it.
Government funding models reward throughput over quality, prioritising fast, reactive care over long-term, preventive outcomes.
Advocacy is too often reactive and lacks impact.
We should lead from a place that genuinely helps patients and not be pushed around by government agendas.
Meanwhile, healthcare policy is being shaped by short-term election optics, not predictive modelling or evidence-based roadmaps to a healthier Australia.
I’ve seen the pull of legacy – the instinct to preserve rather than transform.
I’ve also seen how easily good people become quiet when the cost of speaking up is career discomfort or institutional friction.
But healthcare is not a game of optics. It’s a moral contract.
I don’t want to play to maintain power. I want to play to win the future for patients.
Artificial intelligence has arrived, and we are not ready
AI is no longer theoretical.
Right now there are systems that can:
- detect disease earlier and with greater accuracy
- triage faster than emergency departments
- support clinicians in low-resource areas
- automate routine care and
- help patients understand their own health better than most explainers.
And yet, as a profession, we hesitate.
We tell ourselves, “It’s not real clinical reasoning”, “patients want a human touch”, “technology is just a tool, not a threat”.
But these responses miss the point.
This isn’t about replacing doctors. It’s about expanding care through access, equity and efficiency in ways we were never able to do before.
If we miss this moment, the cost won’t be our reputations. It will be the lives of those who continue to fall through the cracks.
Why I’m speaking now
Because I still believe in medicine.
I believe in governance, rigour and careful leadership.
But I also believe in clarity, and in courage.
I believe that we must shift from status preservation to system evolution, and that our peak bodies must lead on patient-first technology adoption, not follow reluctantly.
I believe that clinical excellence must include adaptability, not just tradition, and that speaking plainly is now an act of public service.
This is not disruption for the sake of novelty.
This is a call to realign medicine with the people it exists to serve.
What comes next, and who will lead it
We need doctors who can govern wisely and evolve quickly.
We need institutions that hold care above ego, and clarity above caution.
And we need to speak openly about what’s coming before others define it for us.
Because we are not decades away from change.
We are months to a few short years from artificial intelligence systems that can reason, diagnose and adapt at a level that will fundamentally alter clinical roles, patient expectations and healthcare delivery.
We are not preparing fast enough, and in the fog of denial, the cost is always borne by patients.
This is my first step forward.
Not with noise, but with conviction.
And with an open hand for anyone who’s been feeling the same but wasn’t sure when to speak.
Now is the time.