Embracing AI opportunity while maintaining responsibility

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come to dominate the tech sphere over the past five years and its influence has spread into other fields, including healthcare.

Its growing presence has prompted the APA to release a position statement on the use of AI in physiotherapy.

While other bodies such as Ahpra have already released statements about AI, we felt it was important to provide guidance specific to physiotherapy.

AI can be a valuable collaborative tool when it assists clinicians by organising information, reducing administrative burden, identifying relevant evidence or supporting communication.

We know that many physiotherapists are already using it for these time-saving tasks.

If it is implemented well, one of its greatest benefits may be allowing physiotherapists to spend less time on paperwork and more time on direct patient care, applying the skills that only clinicians can provide.

The APA statement takes a firm stance that AI must remain under the oversight of a registered physiotherapist in clinical practice. 

Regardless of how sophisticated AI becomes, accountability cannot be delegated to this technology.

Responsibility for assessment, diagnosis, clinical reasoning and patient management remains with the physiotherapist.

The value of physiotherapists has never just been access to information.

Our role is to evaluate information, apply professional judgement, navigate uncertainty and ensure that recommendations are appropriate for the individual patient. Patients have access to more information than ever before.

What they need is someone they trust to help them understand what that information means for them.

AI can answer questions but it can’t build a therapeutic relationship and it can’t earn trust the way a clinician can.

One of the biggest challenges with AI is that its outputs are heavily influenced by the data used to build and train it.

If that data does not adequately represent particular populations, there is a risk that bias will become embedded in the technology itself.

Australia already faces challenges in achieving equity of access and outcomes for many communities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We want to make sure that new technologies don’t unintentionally reinforce or worsen existing inequity.

As a profession, we need to remain alert to these issues and advocate for technologies that are fair, representative and safe – and to push developers and vendors to demonstrate this.

Prior to developing the position statement, we put together an AI advisory group comprising strong adopters of this technology, including people from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, university staff, business owners and clinicians.

The advisory group is helping to guide the APA on its AI journey, from how we use the technology internally to how we can support members navigating it in their own workplaces.

AI is no longer a future issue. It’s already being used across healthcare and increasingly within physiotherapy.

Our responsibility is to actively help shape how these technologies are implemented so that they support safe, ethical and effective patient care.

The profession should not be standing on the sidelines watching AI develop around it.

For physiotherapists who feel overwhelmed by the pace of change in this area, I would emphasise that professional judgement, clinical reasoning and accountability need to remain central to physiotherapy practice, regardless of how technology evolves.

For those looking to start using AI but unsure where to begin, my advice is to begin with low-risk, high-volume administrative work or repetitive tasks such as summarising notes or drafting routine emails.

Start with something practical, then build confidence gradually.

Physiotherapists who want to build their AI capability can attend the FOCUS26 pre-conference workshops running from 8 am to 12 pm on Thursday 15 October.

The APA will also soon launch an AI education series, free to our members.

If you’d like to read more about digital technology’s place in physiotherapy, check out the feature article by Leo Ng, Mark Merolli and Trevor Russell in the June issue of InMotion and read the position statement here.

Rob LoPresti
APA Chief Executive Officer