Artificial intelligence and osteopathic medicine: Preserving human-centered care in an era of technological advancement

Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into healthcare, osteopathic medicine faces a critical inflection point. This commentary examines how AI integration can augment osteopathic practice while addressing potential challenges to its foundational tenets. The four tenets of osteopathic medicine - unity of body, mind, and spirit; the body's capacity for self-regulation and self-healing; the interrelationship of structure and function; and rational treatment based on these principles - must guide AI integration to preserve osteopathic medicine's holistic approach. By reaffirming osteopathy's mind-body-spirit philosophy and relational approach to care, osteopathic physicians can help shape a future in which AI serves - not supplants - the human connection that is essential to healing. Successful AI implementation requires intentional strategies to preserve therapeutic presence, maintaining the centrality of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), and ensuring that technology enhances rather than replaces the physician-patient relationship. Medical education, research, and governance must evolve to prepare osteopathic physicians to work ethically alongside AI while maintaining fidelity to osteopathic principles.