Is Medicine a Future-Proof Career in the Age of AI?
… And what parents and teenagers should really be thinking about right now
As a GP, I am usually talking about blood pressure, sleep, weight or stress. But more and more recently, some parents have asked me a different kind of question, often at the end of an appointment, half-joking but clearly worried. So this is a slightly different post from my usual ones, but it is a conversation I think is worth having.
“Is medicine still a safe career for our kids with all this AI coming?”
It is a fair question. Artificial intelligence is already changing how we work, learn, shop, and communicate. Many jobs will look very different in ten or twenty years. Some will disappear altogether. So it makes sense that families with teenagers choosing GCSEs and A-levels are thinking ahead.
The short answer is this: medicine is likely to remain one of the more resilient careers, but not for the reasons people often assume.
What AI Is Good At (and What It Isn’t)
AI is excellent at pattern recognition, data processing and speed. In healthcare, that means it can already help with:
Reading scans and imaging
Flagging abnormal blood results
Supporting diagnosis in specific, well-defined scenarios
Reducing admin and paperwork
All of that is useful. It can make healthcare safer and more efficient.
But medicine is not just about information. It is about judgment, context, trust, and human connection. AI does not sit with a frightened patient. It doesn’t notice the subtle change in someone’s tone that tells you something is wrong. It does not weigh up medical evidence alongside personal values, family dynamics, mental health, and social circumstances.
That human layer is not an add-on. It is the core of good medical care.
Which Medical Roles Are Most Future-Resilient?
Medicine itself will change, but certain skills within it are particularly future-proof.
Roles that rely heavily on human interaction, complex decision-making, and leadership are likely to remain in demand. These include:
General practice and primary care
Paediatrics
Psychiatry and mental health
Emergency medicine
Geriatric medicine
Palliative and end-of-life care
Clinical leadership, research and education
Highly technical areas will also continue to evolve, but clinicians in those fields will increasingly work with AI rather than be replaced by it.
In reality, the doctors of the future will need to understand technology, but they will still be valued for being human.
Medicine Is Not “Safe” Because It Is Easy
It is important to be honest here. Medicine is not future-proof because it is comfortable or guaranteed. It is demanding, competitive and emotionally challenging. The NHS workforce has faced real strain in recent years, and that should never be glossed over.
What does make medicine resilient is that societies will always need people who can care for others when they are vulnerable, unwell or frightened. That need does not disappear with better software.
Careers built around service, ethics, responsibility and trust tend to weather technological change better than those built purely on information processing.
Advice for Parents of Teenagers
If you are a parent watching your child choose subjects right now, my advice is not to push them into medicine because it feels “safe”.
Instead, ask:
Do they enjoy science and problem-solving?
Are they curious about people as well as facts?
Can they tolerate uncertainty and responsibility?
Are they motivated by helping others, not just status or income?
If the answer is yes, medicine or healthcare might suit them. If the answer is no, many other meaningful, resilient careers combine technology and humanity in different ways.
Advice for Teenagers Choosing GCSEs and A Levels
If you are reading this as a student, here is something I wish more young people heard. You do not need to have your whole life mapped out at 15 or 16.
Choosing sciences keeps doors open, but so does developing skills that AI struggles to replicate: communication, empathy, critical thinking, creativity and resilience.
Medicine is not about being the cleverest person in the room. It is about being willing to learn continuously, adapt to change, and take responsibility for other human beings.
Those qualities matter far beyond medicine, too.
The Bigger Picture
AI will absolutely change healthcare. In many ways, that is a good thing. It may free clinicians to spend more time with patients, not less. But the idea that caring professions are about to disappear misunderstands what those professions are actually for.
If anything, in an increasingly automated world, human-centred roles become more valuable, not less.
That is a message worth sharing with both parents and young people as they look ahead.
I’m interested to know how you are feeling about this as a parent. Does medicine still feel like a stable option, or are you more concerned about how AI may reshape careers for today’s teenagers?
