The Future of AI in Physical Therapy

“The future is already here; it’s just not evenly distributed,” said the dystopian author William Gibson.

How can you profit from this knowledge of the future? Or, if you have a different risk aversion preference; how can you avoid being disrupted by seismic changes in the job market?

One profit-optimization pathway would be to learn about AI in physical therapy (this blog is a good source).

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google is concerned about AI; should you be?

Don’t worry, we’re not at Skynet status, just yet, but Schmidt does perceive, within 5 years, we’ll need to be in a position to ‘pull the plug’ on autonomous agents that have developed their own language (much like children do) and could be silently ‘talking’ to each other.

So, how does autonomous AI agents affect physical therapy? More specifically, how do autonomous AI agents affect physical therapists?

AI is not taking anyone’s job today. Evidence below.

If anything, the tech investments, described by Schmidt, have spurred a hiring boom, albeit targeted to the tech workers, programmers and app developers in the AI space.

Large Firms More Likely to Use AI

Forty percent of all firms surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (363) use AI in their daily work processes

Healthcare is smack-dab in the middle; neither leading nor lagging AI uptake:

“White-collar industries such as professional and business services and financial activities report the greatest AI use, while leisure and hospitality and manufacturing report the lowest.”

But, healthcare is positioned for some near-term investments into AI.

“Survey data were also collected on plans for future AI use, and health care appears poised for greater AI implementation. Half of health care firms say they plan to start using AI in the next 12 months, notably higher than the 10–15 percent share across other large industries.”

But, profits and investments affect owners, not workers. Workers just care about jobs. What will be the impact on jobs? Will AI take my job? More specifically, will AI take my physical therapy job?

Good news: No. At least, not yet.

Note: This data is current as of the date of this blogpost.

So, what about today? We need to eat and get a good night’s sleep. Eric Schmidt’s 5-year horizon is not too helpful for my daily decision making.

Do I need to be worried about AI today?

Another response from the Texas Fed survey, I thought, nailed the current zeitgeist on AI, especially among employers of all types:

One small transportation manufacturer reported, “AI is more challenging to implement than anticipated, and the impact is currently lower than expected.”

I hope that helps.