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AMA NSW Doctor Magazine: How AI can preserve expertise in rural health
22nd May 2026
In the Autumn 2026 edition of AMA’s NSW Doctor Magazine, RDN’s Communications Manager Theo Clark examines the possibilities for science fiction becoming science fact in rural and remote health.
During the Cold War, US Senator Bobby Kennedy told a group of South African students: “There is a Chinese curse which says ‘may he live in interesting times.’ Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty, but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind.”
Sound familiar?
In 2026, war in the Middle East has exposed Australia’s position at the bottom of a precarious global supply chain, with effects felt nowhere more keenly than in rural communities, where fuel is the lifeblood of agriculture and medicine leans heavily on aviation.
We remain in creative times too, but with the artificial intelligence revolution in full swing, creativity is no longer exclusively human. If Hollywood did us no favours by introducing AI via the homicidal HAL computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, still the possibilities aren’t all glum.
In a recent opinion piece for RDN’s Rural Health Pro, Extended Reality industry pioneer David Francis, expounded on the possibilities for rural health of Physical AI as the “next major wave”.
“The industry has spent years trying to solve the rural skills crisis with better recruitment ads and slightly larger relocation grants,” says Francis. “But as the National Skills Plan suggests, we need systemic reform. For a start, we need to stop allowing tacit knowledge to bleed out of our regions”.
Using Physical AI, skills can be recorded by smart glasses like Meta RayBans, he explained, which “clone” the expertise of our best practitioners, “distributing their hands-on wisdom to every corner of the outback”.
Read the full article on p.38.
Read Theo's pieces in previous editions: