The AI doctor will see you soon. We don’t have a plan for that

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Fast Company examines the accelerating trajectory of AI in clinical settings and the governance vacuum surrounding increasingly autonomous medical AI. The core argument: AI is progressing from decision support (surfacing options for doctors) toward autonomous decision-making (acting without a physician in the loop), and neither regulators, healthcare institutions, nor insurers have workable frameworks for when autonomous AI causes patient harm. The piece presents a road map for how healthcare AI autonomy is likely to expand — through triage, radiology, drug dosing, and eventually diagnosis — and flags that institutional and regulatory preparation is lagging behind actual deployment. This concern has intensified through 2025-2026 as models entered clinical workflows in an increasing number of hospitals. Key unresolved questions raised include: who bears liability when an autonomous AI misdiagnoses a patient, how hospitals certify AI systems for autonomous use, and whether insurance will cover AI-driven clinical decisions. The article calls for proactive policy development rather than crisis-driven responses after harm occurs. The source excerpt available is brief, limiting the granularity of the analysis above. Specific proposals or policy frameworks mentioned in the full article are not available from the content provided.