When I saw a tagline about artificial intelligence (AI) improving patient-provider communication I read on with great interest. What? How?
This article claims AI will provide better ways to communicate between providers and patients. I take from this that AI has the potential for more accurate communication as opposed to more effective communication. In fact, I’ll go a step further and clarify that AI could improve correspondence, while it still takes human interaction to achieve effective communication.
While AI can make sure people get the correct lab results and schedule their follow up appointments on time, it cannot replace human interaction.
All the work we’ve done on language and messaging in diabetes is about how we talk to (and about) people. It includes tone and body language. Let’s make sure to continue the language movement and work toward person-first, strengths-based, empowering communication, so that AI incorporates these principles of effective communication rather than simply perpetuating the problems we’ve had in diabetes all along.