'The Pitt' spotlights the difficulties AI is introducing to clinical practice
Industry Buzz
To ignore AI or to push it aside would be a huge mistake.
—Christopher Colwell, MD
AI tools in medicine should be rigorously tested, continuously monitored, and always used with a human clinician in the loop.
—Rana Kabeer, MD
Popular medical drama The Pitt is tackling AI in medicine—and experts say it’s a worthy conversation to have.
The second season of the drama sees characters introduced to a generative AI system used for charting, with not-always-perfect results.
“I think the show has focused on the benefits of AI for charting and documentation. I do see the show loading Chekhov’s gun with Dr. Al-Hashimi’s love of ambient scribes, despite some errors breaking through. While that is a very handy use—improving clinical documentation—AI offers so much more for our field,” Rana Kabeer, a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University, tells MDLinx.
“In particular, I think of AI as a smart assistant working quietly in the background to help flag abnormal patterns, such as patients who may be getting sicker earlier (eg, someone at risk for sepsis), so we can act faster. It can help interpret labs and testing in real time to support clinical decision-making. AI can also help behind the scenes by predicting patient surges and crowding, which allows hospitals to prepare staffing and resources more proactively,” Dr. Kabeer adds.
Almost intelligent?
In The Pitt, after an AI error is spotted, one of the characters notes that AI should stand for “almost intelligent.”
Dr. Kabeer argues that AI should not replace physicians.
“At its core, AI is there to support, not replace, the clinician. The goal is to reduce friction, catch risk sooner, and ultimately give doctors and nurses more time to focus on what matters most: caring for patients face to face.” —Rana Kabeer, MD
Christopher Colwell, MD, Chief of Emergency Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, says physicians need to embrace the reality of AI’s growth in medicine.
“To ignore AI or to push it aside would be a huge mistake. First of all, it's a reality, right? There's no denying that AI is here and is taking over many aspects, and if we don't embrace it to some degree … then we're missing a huge opportunity—and we're also going to make ourselves obsolete fairly soon,” he tells MDLinx.
Related: 2026's most anticipated AI advances—and how docs are navigating the promise and pitfalls“One of the biggest complaints you will hear from medical care providers, certainly in the United States, is paperwork. ‘I've got to do more charting than I ever had to do before.’ AI can absolutely help with this. It can help with dictation. … It’s not perfect … but it can make us much more efficient in many of the things that we do.”
Patient safety
Both Dr. Kabeer and Dr. Colwell note that patient safety ultimately rests with the clinician, cautioning that healthcare providers should not just mindlessly follow AI.
Related: Is this season of 'The Pitt' foreshadowing the continued breakdown of medicine in the US?But if utilized well, AI has its merits in medicine.
“Safety doesn’t come from avoiding innovation; it comes from building guardrails. AI tools in medicine should be rigorously tested, continuously monitored, and always used with a human clinician in the loop. We already do this with medications, devices, and diagnostic tests, and it’s no different here,” Dr. Kabeer says.