Just musing about the educational landscape and the margins being blurred by AI Of course, i acknowledge AI has endless benefits and applications in medicine - exciting times and a new frontier That aside, in the process of writing my books, i wanted them to reflect my personality and pseudo-irreverence and i’ve deliberately - belligerently - avoided artificial help. I want them to retain a human element and be authentic - which is crucial if you’re trying to represent knowledge gleaned at the ‘MSK coalface’ - and also make them readable and accessible (tolerable!😆) At present i don’t feel this is achievable with AI ‘assistance’ (interference?) Lots of clinicians have contributed variably philosophical, academic, poignant, soapbox esque reflections…. and i know immediately which of these have been AI assisted. And that’s ok. I get it. People are busy busy. Expanding on this, i’ve spent many hours hand drawing numerous figures and images (with my 8 yo daughters crayons 🖍️😆) for the books. People ask me why? Use AI? why don’t you use the original image? Copyright aside, they are missing the point It’s a process, which is fun, engaging and challenging in a positive way Are the drawings crucial for the readers understanding? No. It’s part of the creative romance. When i finally publish them, i can sit back and be proud that I took a project on without taking shortcuts - even if it selfishlessly means the product isn’t 100% orientated to the ‘absorb / assimilate / regurgitate’ generation