As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to make inroads into the healthcare sector, a contentious debate is unfolding in hospitals across the United States.
AI-powered tools, often dubbed “AI nurses,” are being deployed to handle tasks traditionally performed by human nurses, such as monitoring vital signs, scheduling appointments, and even guiding patient care protocols.
While hospital administrators tout these technologies as solutions to staffing shortages and nurse burnout, human nurses and their unions are raising alarms about the potential risks to patient care and the erosion of their professional expertise.
The integration of AI into hospital workflows has accelerated in recent years, driven by advancements in machine learning and a growing demand for healthcare services.
According to a March 16, 2025, article from the Associated Press (AP), hundreds of hospitals are now using sophisticated AI programs to monitor patients’ vital signs, flag emergencies, and provide step-by-step care plans—tasks once exclusively in the domain of nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Companies like Hippocratic AI have introduced virtual assistants, such as “Ana,” which can schedule appointments, answer patient questions, and operate 24/7 in multiple languages, offering a cost-effective alternative to human labor.
Hospitals argue that AI can alleviate the pressures of an overburdened workforce.
The U.S. government projects more than 190,000 annual job openings for nurses through 2032, fueled by an aging population and retiring healthcare workers, as noted in the same AP report.
At the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, for instance, AI is being used to make hundreds of preoperative calls to patients, a task that previously required nurses to work overtime.
“We need to call several hundred people in a 120-minute window, but I don’t want to pay my staff overtime to do so,” a doctor told the AP, highlighting the financial incentives driving AI adoption.
Despite these benefits, the rise of AI nurses has sparked significant pushback from human nurses and their unions.
National Nurses United (NNU), the largest nursing union in the U.S., has organized over 20 demonstrations nationwide to demand a say in how AI is implemented and to secure protections for nurses who override automated recommendations.
A March 16, 2025, article from WBBJ TV reported that nurses are concerned about the technology’s potential to “override nurses’ expertise and degrade the quality of care patients receive.”
Michelle Mahon of NNU told the AP, “Hospitals have been waiting for the moment when they have something that appears to have enough legitimacy to replace nurses,” suggesting a broader agenda to automate and de-skill the profession.
One real-world example cited by the AP underscores these concerns.
Adam Hart, a nurse at Dignity Health in Henderson, Nevada, encountered an AI system that flagged a patient for sepsis and recommended immediate IV fluids.
Upon examination, Hart discovered the patient was on dialysis—a condition requiring careful fluid management. Following the AI’s protocol could have harmed the patient, illustrating the limitations of automated decision-making in complex medical scenarios.
The economic motivations behind AI adoption are stark. Hippocratic AI initially marketed its assistants at $9 per hour, a fraction of the $40 hourly wage of a registered nurse, though it later removed this pricing from its messaging, according to the AP.
Hospital administrators see AI as a way to cut costs and address staffing shortages, but nurses argue that this comes at the expense of patient safety.
A CTV News article from March 16, 2025, echoed this sentiment, noting that nursing unions view AI as “poorly understood technology” that lacks the nuance and judgment of human caregivers.
The debate has also drawn attention from prominent figures. In January 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the incoming U.S. Health Secretary, suggested AI nurses could be “as good as any doctor” for rural care, a claim that alarmed NNU, as reported by Yahoo News on March 16, 2025.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mehmet Oz, nominated to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, told the AP on March 14, 2025, that AI could “liberate doctors and nurses from all the paperwork,” reflecting a more optimistic view of its potential.
The tension between AI and human nurses highlights a broader challenge in healthcare: balancing technological innovation with the human touch that defines quality care.
Hospitals point to AI’s ability to reduce burnout and improve efficiency, as detailed in a Value The Markets report from March 16, 2025, which described how AI systems analyze data from sensors and electronic records to predict medical issues.
Yet, nurses counter that patient care is not just about data—it’s about intuition, empathy, and adaptability, qualities AI cannot replicate.
