Cognitive Aids, Artificial Intelligence, and Deskilling in Medicine: The History of an Enduring Anxiety.

Authors

Andrew S Lea

Published in

NEJM AI. Volume 3. Issue 1. Pages AIp2500932. Epub Dec 18, 2025.

Abstract

AbstractThis perspective explores the history of deskilling concerns in the wake of new reference tools and cognitive aids in medicine, whether they be books, pocket guides, filing systems, or modern digital technologies. Present-day discussions about the consequences of cognitive offloading with AI are part of this long lineage. A historical perspective sharpens these conversations by demonstrating that ideas about what counts as a skill are themselves historically situated and that technologies are adopted in varied and contingent ways, with different implications for the cognitive practices of physicians.

PMID:
42932533
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Oct 2026.

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