Dr. Alice Gilson speaks on the future of surgery and AI at the Swiss College of Surgeons Congress in Lucerne

At the invitation of Professor Léo Bühler and the Association for Research in Surgery, Dr. Alice Gilson, co-founder of DocNote, spoke at the Annual Congress of the Swiss College of Surgeons in Lucerne.

She contributed to the session “AI, CAR-T Cells and Omics in the OR: Will Surgeons Still Be There?”, addressing a question increasingly on the minds of healthcare professionals: what will the role of surgeons be in the age of artificial intelligence?

The talk explored how AI is already transforming surgery and healthcare — inside the operating room through robotics, image-guided surgery and decision-support systems, and outside it through medical research, data analysis and clinical documentation.

The main takeaway was clear: surgeons are not going to disappear, but the profession will evolve. Far from replacing clinical judgment, technical expertise or the human connection with patients, AI can remove repetitive administrative tasks and free up valuable time for patient care.