The impact of AI on my work

Hi everyone!

About a week ago, I asked a good friend of mine: “What do you know about AI, and how do you think it’ll shape our future?” Now, he’s not an AI expert by any stretch, but he is one of the sharpest people I know. He is a literal mathematical genius, his ability to analyse data is next level, and he has also developed his own formulae for some hectic AI-driven calculations in ophthalmology, things I mostly don’t understand. That being said, his answers are usually a reflection of a profound perspective, and he makes me think more deeply. So I expected a quick, insightful answer to help me understand AI in more depth.

Instead, he paused and said he’d need some time to think about it.

That caught me off guard. If someone I consider one of the smartest people I know needed to stop and process the question, then maybe AI isn’t as simple as I thought. That pause, the hesitation, was enough to spark something in me. It’s what pulled me headfirst into an AI rabbit hole, and let me tell you…it’s been an interesting ride so far.

Let’s be real! If you haven’t played around with ChatGPT yet, you’re probably one of those rare unicorns who still write emails from scratch and without secretly wondering, “Can AI do this faster for me?” Most of us have dipped our toes in, and if we’re honest, it’s made work life just a little smoother. Whether you’re an accountant crunching numbers, a marketer crafting posts, or like me, balancing content creation with managing a healthcare business, AI has quietly become that helpful colleague who never complains and always works overtime.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gone a bit deeper than just using AI and actually started learning how it works. At first, the terminology was intimidating. Things like “large language models” (LLMs) sounded like the kind of buzzwords you’d only hear at a tech conference in Sandton or maybe tossed around on a podcast, such as Trevor Noah’s podcast episode, where I first came across the term, as well as my initial introduction to Sam Altman. Here’s the simple version: these models are basically the engine that powers tools like ChatGPT, trained on mountains of information so they can produce answers that sound surprisingly natural, even human.

Then there’s the big dream everyone in the AI world is chasing: AGI, or artificial general intelligence. That’s when AI could, in theory, do anything a human can do. Except poop, AI won’t be able to poop. I think it’s more like intellectual tasks, you know? Anyway, for the most part, it does sound impressive, right? But let’s be honest, if AI were already at that level, surely it would be running the world a lot more smoothly by now. Clearly, we’re not there yet, so for now, the robots aren’t taking over—and I, for one, am still safe.

Now, let me bring this closer to home. I’m in healthcare, and more specifically, nursing. A field where human connection isn’t just nice to have, it is the work. Empathy, intuition, presence, these aren’t things you can code into an algorithm. No AI will ever know what it feels like to sit with a nervous patient before major surgery, or any surgery, really. AI cannot comfort a family at 2 a.m. waiting for feedback on how their loved one is doing. That’s a good thing, though, I think.

Based on my little adventure down the rabbit hole, here’s where AI excites me: it can help us strip away the admin sludge that keeps us from patients. Think about it, automated documentation, early warning systems that flag health risks, even simple triage bots that answer routine questions. That means more time for what really matters, being with people. AI isn’t here to replace the human touch, but it can help protect it for sure.

So the challenge (and opportunity) is simple: use AI as a partner, not a threat. Let it make us in healthcare more efficient, less buried in paperwork, and maybe even give us back a few minutes to breathe.

I think it’s important to never forget, though, that it’s the human element of healthcare that makes all the difference.

Altman and many others have said in past interviews that we are merely scratching the surface of what AI is capable of, and to be fair, that is both incredibly exciting and unsettling. I am excited about what the future holds, though.

AI cannot yet make the perfect cup of coffee (quite disappointing, actually) , or empathise in the way a human being can, but there is a lot more to discover.

Have a great week, my fellow authors of life.

Euan