This timely editorial contends the rise of artificial intelligence challenges physicians to distinguish what machines can replicate—information processing, technical tasks, and even the appearance of empathy—from what remains uniquely human: the ability to forge authentic therapeutic connections through touch, presence, and vulnerability from a shared mortality: a “radical empathy” that may become medicine’s most valuable skill in the age of artificial intelligence. | Corn, Pract Radiat Oncol 2026
