German Society for Internal Medicine: "Treating people, not data" Staff shortages and more endanger quality of care, according to internists' congress. AI is supposed to fix it, but humans must always remain the focus. At the 132nd Congress of the German Society for Internal Medicine, physicians discussed the use of artificial intelligence, which goes far beyond pure pattern recognition. AI agents are intended to actively relieve doctors and nursing staff of routine tasks, thus counteracting staff shortages and increasing bureaucracy. At the same time, modern technology enables more differentiated diagnostics, the experts emphasized. Artificial intelligence in everyday hospital life is evolving from a consulting to an actively acting system. “We are moving from 'not just advice, but also action',” explained Prof. Jens Kleesiek, Director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine at Essen University Hospital, at a press conference for the congress. Given staff shortages and administrative overload, the use of such technologies is unavoidable: “We can no longer guarantee the quality of care, the security of supply, if we do not use further tools.” Videos by heise As a concrete example, Kleesiek cited “agentic AI,” which autonomously coordinates complex processes such as patient discharge or warns staff if an allergy has not been correctly noted in the record. At the same time, he cautioned that with all the technological support, “common sense should not be switched off.” The danger is to blindly trust technology, similar to a navigation system that drivers follow and “drive into the river or into a field somewhere.” The guiding principle must therefore be clear, according to Kleesiek: “We treat patients, not data.” Re-evaluation through data: The BMI under scrutiny The advancing digitalization also leads to a re-evaluation of established medical parameters. The complexity of metabolic research reaches far back into evolutionary history, as