AI in practice: deskilling, new frontiers and the rise of ‘Dr ChatGPT’

AI in practice: deskilling, new frontiers and the rise of 'Dr ChatGPT' consult AI about their animals' health -to double-check, to interpret or even to challenge our advice.That brings both opportunity and risk.On one hand, better-informed owners might be more engaged in decision making.On the other, they may arrive with false certainty, backed by an authoritative-sounding chatbot.As clinicians, we can't ignore this shift.We need to build our own AI literacy, so that when 'Dr ChatGPT' joins the consult room, we're ready to guide owners through what these tools can and can't do.AI is here to stay.The challenge now is not just technical performance, but professional adaptation: protecting the skills we value, deciding how we want to practise alongside automation, and preparing ourselves for a world where our clients already have an opinion generated by AI before they walk through the door.