Part II: What the Harvard ER Study Says About o1 Beating Doctors at Diagnosis, Why It Means Differential Diagnosis Just Stopped Being a Scarce Cognitive Asset, and Where the Money Goes Next

A Harvard team just published a study in Science showing o1 outperformed ER physicians at diagnosis. The popular take is “AI beat doctors.” The popular take misses the most important finding in the paper. Thread.

Setup: 76 real ED cases from a Boston academic medical center. o1 and physicians both given triage info first, then progressively more workup d…