Artificial intelligence is upon us, and just as other historical breakthrough technologies have proved, it is not a matter of how it will accommodate us but how we must accommodate it.

Education, finance, law, transportation and energy are all sectors that are being dramatically transformed by AI, and medicine will be no exception. What will the AI automation of health care mean for patients?

With more diagnostic power available to patients than ever before, they will have more agency than they could have imagined. The AI transformation of medicine likely will sharpen diagnoses, streamline treatments and improve patient outcomes. Convenience will be the coin of the realm; many doctors’ appointments and emergency room visits will become unnecessary. The long era of sitting quietly while the doctor pronounces what ails us and what to do about it is ending.

Unfortunately, the future may not be as promising for physicians. The machines will soon out-doctor the doctors: AI will diagnose better and more quickly, and robotics will perform procedures more efficiently (the next generation of robotic surgery will need minimal human supervision). Physicians, especially the less experienced, are likely to overrely on machine AI in the pursuit of efficiency and speed. Doctors could become drone workers to the queen bee of AI. If that happens, what point is there in training new physicians? It is a notoriously cost-inefficient process.

But it doesn’t mean physicians can be completely eliminated, if for no other reason than AI “hallucinations” — the misleading results that machine learning occasionally generates. The diagnosis or treatment that AI suggests could be completely wrong, and the machine will not realize its error. Amr Awadallah, chief executive of an AI startup, told The New York Times, “Despite our best efforts, (AI systems) will always hallucinate. That will never go away.” Infallible machines turn out to be fallible. So there will have to be a physician somewhere in the equation to monitor the process.

But the biggest risk of AI in medicine will be cybersecurity. Of course, you will be assured that your information is secure. But it won’t be, because there is no such thing as total security. Electronic medical records were once touted as secure, but whole hospital systems have been taken down and held for ransom by malefactors. Given the national interconnection of medical databases, an AI agent could in theory take down the medical systems of the entire country.

Between hallucinations and hacking, there will have to be a role for physicians. The brilliant family physician and medical blogger Dr. Buzz Hollander once described the importance of the physician in the era of AI, “The internet has been a godsend for medicine; it has democratized medical knowledge away from the medical center libraries and academic journals and put it in everyone’s hands, at a faster pace than ever before. However, there is no device capable of reasoning through complex medical problems less prone to hacking, malware and corruption than the brain of a physician. No large scale attacks can be made on this form of intelligence.”

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The government, insurers, the health care industry, Big Science and Big Pharma will welcome, and eventually demand, that medicine be turned over to AI. The speed, efficiency and, of course, the profits will be too hard to pass up, risks be damned. Everyone in charge of health care will come to the same conclusion — the tremendous upside of having AI in charge of health care is worth the foreseeable risks. But, of course, not all risks are foreseeable, and those that are will be borne primarily by patients.

The AI revolution will be of immense benefit, but at the same time, it also will demand that all of us — patients and physicians — be aware of its shortcomings and potential pitfalls. Patients are the nexus between responsible health care and a dangerous technologic tsunami. They must make their desires known, the sooner the better, especially if they want the human contact that physicians, nurses and therapists provide. High tech should be tempered with high touch.

The author Avi Jorisch, who wrote a treatise on technology, “Thou Shalt Innovate,” observed, “Like every true revolution, it will begin within us — with the ancient, ever-new realization that technology is a mirror. What it reflects depends entirely on who we choose to be.”

Dr. Cory Franklin is a retired intensive care physician and the author of“The COVID Diaries 2020-2024: Anatomy of a Contagion as It Happened.” He wrote this column for the Chicago Tribune.

Today is Sunday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2025. There are 38 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Nov. 23,2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia, becoming Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state. She guided her nation through recovery after its exit from a decade-long civil war.

Also on this date:

In 1863, thousands of Union soldiers under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant marched out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and battled Confederate forces through Nov. 25, forcing their retreat into Georgia in a significant blow to the South in the American Civil War.

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In 1939, early in World War II, the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi was on patrol when it was shelled and sunk in an engagement with two German warships southeast of Iceland, leaving more than 200 dead aboard the Rawalpindi and only a few dozen survivors.

In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

In 1971, the People’s Republic of China was seated in the United Nations Security Council.

In 1980, an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.

In 1984, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie completed one of the most famous passes in college football history, connecting with Gerald Phelan for a 48-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock as Boston College defeated the Miami Hurricanes 47-45.

In 1996, a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoro Islands, killing 125 of the 175 people on board, including all three hijackers.

In 2006, former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko (leet-vee-NYEN’-koh) died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2008, the U.S. government unveiled a bold plan to rescue Citigroup, injecting a fresh $20 billion into the troubled firm as well as guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars in risky assets.

In 2011, Yemen’s authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh (AH’-lee ahb-DUH’-luh sah-LEH’) agreed to step down amid a fierce uprising to oust him after 33 years in power. (After formally ceding power in February 2012, he was killed in 2017 by Houthi rebels who were once his allies.)

In 2024, Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens more, the latest strikes in renewed fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants. (A U.S.-brokered cease-fire would be reached on Nov. 27, with sporadic violations of that truce for months afterward.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Franco Nero (“Django”) is 84.
Singer Bruce Hornsby is 71.
TV journalist Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 65.
Composer Nicolas Bacri is 64.
Poet and author Jennifer Michael Hecht is 60.
Olympic gold medal sprinter Asafa Powell is 43.
Ice hockey player Nicklas Bäckström is 38.
Singer-actor Miley Cyrus is 33.

FARGO, N.D. — The suspense for the North Dakota State football team was not on the field Saturday afternoon, not after 665 yards of total offense. It was a foregone conclusion that the University of St. Thomas was an undermanned Division I non-scholarship Pioneer Football League team that came to Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome a banged-up outfit.

No, the biggest mystery will be unraveled at 11 a.m. Sunday when the 24-team FCS playoff field will be revealed on ESPNU. The Bison, 12-0, are certain to be the No. 1 seed after their 62-7 victory before 15,278 fans.

“It will be exciting. (I) think we did a good shutting the door and handling our business,” Bison cornerback Anthony Chideme-Alfaro said. “Excited to see who we’re facing, so ready to get onto the next week and get ready.”

The rest of the seedings, and where NDSU stands in the bracket, will be the questions to be answered. But this is something the Bison have been part of for the past 15 seasons. They know the drill: Seeds 9 through 16 will host first-round games against the last eight at-large entrants.

NDSU will get a first-round bye and will have home-field advantage as long as it continues to advance.

“We shut the door today,” said NDSU defensive tackle Jaxon Duttenhefer. “I don’t think there’s any doubt for us or the nation where we’re supposed to be. I think there will be a little more interest to see who will be on our side of the bracket.”

The Bison beat St. Thomas with an offensive onslaught that for a while threatened to break the school record for total offense, 756 yards set in 1988 against Morningside College.

It was the fourth-most in the Division I era with the leader in that statistic being 700 yards against the University of South Dakota in 2019. That was with quarterback Trey Lance.

“Really good job coming out ready to go, regardless of the opponent it’s hard to do,” head coach Tim Polasek said. “The first-half performance, thought defensively we were flying around.”

This was accomplished with Trey’s younger brother Bryce Lance, who had three receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bison starters were sharp early against the Tommies, taking a quick 21-0 lead. NDSU had 320 yards of total offense in the first quarter alone, and with the difference in team speed, UST had no answer to any deep passes the Bison had to offer. Scoring passes in the first half covered 81, 47 and 43 yards.

Already an underdog, Tommies had to play without starting quarterback Andy Peters, out because of a concussion suffered against Presbyterian College (S.C.) last Saturday. That left the job to senior Amari Powell, who came in with 33 passing attempts on the season. St. Thomas also was missing a few other starters because of injuries.

NDSU found out during warmups.

“Whenever you don’t have a major starter, there’s always a lot of question marks because you’re not prepping for that player,” Duttenhefer said. “I think not having (Peters) in changed their mentality of what they were going to do a little bit.”

The Tommies, in their first year of being eligible for the FCS playoffs, had those hopes dashed last week in a loss to Presbyterian, which eliminated them from earning the Pioneer League’s automatic bid.

It didn’t take Bison running back Barika Kpeenu long to record a career-long touchdown run. On second-and-2, on NDSU’s second play of the game, Kpeenu took a handoff to the left side, saw little room, cut to the right and bolted 74 yards down the sideline for a quick 7-0 Bison lead.

Kpeenu’s previous long this season was 42 yards, and the stage was already set for the expected outcome.

A 40-yard pass to Chris Harris on NDSU’s next possession set up Kpeenu for a four-yard TD run, making it 14-0 before the game was six minutes old.

“They were playing some soft coverage, and we were still getting behind them,” Polasek said. “Really happy how many balls (were) getting pushed downfield.”

Interceptions on consecutive possessions by NDSU safeties Darius Givance and Taylen Eady halted St. Thomas drives, the last that resulting in an 81-yard pass from quarterback Cole Payton to Lance that made it 21-0. That was a career long on two fronts: the longest TD reception by Lance and the longest TD throw by Payton.

It was another showcase moment for Lance.

“That’s been the case 10 of the 12 weeks,” Polasek said. “Overall this year, Bryce continues to get open. He’s a pretty good player.”

It was also the ninth-longest touchdown passing play in NDSU school history. The Bison didn’t let up with the passing attack, either, and Kpeenu was the recipient this time. Payton found him wide open for a 47-yard touchdown play and it was 28-0.

It was 45-0 at halftime.

Kpeenu finished with 107 yards on 10 carries. Payton was 9 of 12 passing for 279 yards and three touchdowns.

“We were just ready to play,” Kpeenu said. “We came out right away willing to play for our brothers.”

 

San Francisco controlled the glass and tempo Saturday evening at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., as the Dons led wire to wire to beat the Gophers men’s basketball team 77-65.

A combination of frontcourt foul trouble, sluggish first-half scoring and inability to capitalize on free throws contributed to Minnesota’s second nonconference loss. Gophers coach Niko Medved said Jaylen Crocker-Johnson’s foul trouble hurt the Gophers (4-2), but touched on a familiar issue that’s haunted Minnesota.

“The two stats I look at right now are they had 11 made threes and we were 15 of 30 from the free-throw line,” Medved said. “Another team makes 11 threes, and you miss 15 free throws. That’s pretty hard to overcome.”

Gophers center Robert Vaihola, who had started each of Minnesota’s first five games, was out with a knee injury. Sophomore big man Nehemiah Turner stepped into his position in the starting lineup after not playing in any of Minnesota’s previous three contests.

Dons’ leading scorer Ryan Beasley knocked down a 3-pointer on their opening possession, and from that point on, San Francisco (5-1) never trailed.

Minnesota utilized a zone defense against Chicago State on Tuesday when the Cougars seized momentum in the second half. Medved deployed it earlier versus the Dons, who saw it 12 minutes into the game and led 21-18.

The Gophers shot 34.8% from the field before the break, and their free-throw shooting woes continued, going 7 for 13 (53.8%) at the charity stripe. Despite that, Minnesota remained within striking distance, trailing 34-27 at the half.

Cade Tyson — who entered Saturday as the Big Ten’s leading scorer, averaging 23.4 points — only registered two field-goal attempts in the first half. The North Carolina transfer had five points at halftime, thanks to three free throws and a layup.

Minnesota hung around in the second and went on an 8-0 run midway through the second half to tie it, 52-52, but the Dons responded. It was a charge led by Langston Reynolds and Crocker-Johnson.

Reynolds, a sparkplug off the bench on both ends of the court, led Minnesota with 16 points to go with five rebounds and three assists.

Medved said Reynolds is at his best when he is crashing the paint and getting to the rim.

“It was really good to see him, you know, get aggressive and get on the attack, and get in the lane, and he was really causing problems,” Medved said.

Beasley responded to Minnesota’s run with another one of his four 3-pointers. He led the contest in scoring, finishing with 24 points and four assists.

Foul trouble plagued the Gophers as top frontcourt option Crocker-Johnson left the game with six minutes to play after picking up his fourth foul. Crocker-Johnson re-entered three minutes later but fouled out with 2:07 to go and Minnesota trailing 64-58.

San Francisco countered every punch the Gophers threw down the stretch to claim a 77-65 Power Four nonconference victory at a neutral site.

The Gophers finished with nine assists to 12 turnovers, a product of stagnant offensive possessions due to the Dons’ swarming defense. Medved said his team was not “nasty” enough on defense, but San Francisco’s pressure caused problems for his squad.

“I thought we got a little bit sped up at times, on offense,” Medved said. “They got after us, and we kind of rushed some things and probably left some plays out there.”

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