ENPHE Conference 2023 · European Network for Physiotherapy in Higher Education · 6 October 2023
Keynote presentation · Prague · Conference theme: “Educating physiotherapists for a global mindset”
Overview
A presentation on coming to terms with AI in professional education, given at the 2023 ENPHE Conference.
The argument starts with a problem in how we talk about AI. The dominant discourse pulls us toward a false dichotomy — AI as saviour or AI as threat — and both framings oversimplify, one inflating the capabilities, the other inflating the risks. Neither helps educators make good decisions. What the moment actually demands is a tolerance for ambiguity.
The talk uses the antihero as its organising metaphor: a figure who is neither hero nor villain, who acts with imperfect motives toward uncertain ends. Read this way, AI is an ambiguous character in novel human–machine partnerships — pairing human judgement with data-driven insight rather than displacing one with the other. The point is not to resolve the ambiguity but to learn to work inside it.
The closing argument is that wise adoption of AI is no panacea, but the beginning of an iterative, cooperative process — one that depends on sustained interdisciplinary dialogue among educators, researchers, clinicians, and policymakers to navigate its ethical dimensions responsibly, building “human–machine coalitions for ethical advancements in AI-supported health professions education.”
Slides
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