Sustaining Family Medicine core values and ethos in the age of artificial intelligence

Family Medicine (FM) is a discipline grounded in a distinctive generalist ethos that has shaped general practice in Singapore. FM core values centre on providing continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, and person-centred care to people dwelling in the community. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly evolved to support clinicians, including family physicians, in managing their clinical practice. The level of sophistication of multimodal generative AI in healthcare has grown tremendously—it understands, processes, and acts to help doctors to deliver potentially more accurate, contextual, and comprehensive care to their patients. Likewise, a digitally health-literate population can leverage these AI tools to manage their health and medical illnesses. The concern that AI is replacing doctors is escalating in general practice. This commentary highlights the ways in which family physicians can instead use AI to sustain FM core values and continue to deliver holistic and coordinated care to their patients.