The Pitt has a sharp take on AI

The Pitt's AI subplot is its smartest story

HBO's medical drama The Pitt is using its second season to deliver a sharp, nuanced critique of generative AI in healthcare. Rather than a simple cautionary tale, the show explores why the technology is so tempting for overworked professionals and why it's ultimately an insufficient solution.

The season follows a single 15-hour shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center on the Fourth of July. Senior attending physician Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch is preparing for a sabbatical, and his temporary replacement, Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, is a vocal advocate for new AI-powered transcription software.

AI creates as many problems as it solves

Dr. Al-Hashimi pushes residents like Dr. Trinity Santos to use the software to speed up their charting. The AI accurately transcribes most dictation, but the story's tension erupts when a surgeon storms into the ER furious over charts containing glaring, dangerous errors.

The show avoids a simplistic "AI is bad" plot. Instead, it focuses on the practical burdens and responsibilities of adoption. Dr. Al-Hashimi consistently warns her team they must double-check all AI-generated work, as the human doctor is ultimately liable for patient care.

This narrative directly mirrors real-world concerns in medicine today.

• Patients have sued hospitals over surgical errors involving AI tools.
• Studies repeatedly find large language models unreliable at predicting patient outcomes.
• The need for constant verification can create more busywork, contributing to burnout.

The real crisis is understaffing, not technology

The Pitt argues that technology is a band-aid for systemic failures. The AI software might help Dr. Santos chart faster, but it does nothing to address the core issues crippling the ER.

The characters are constantly inundated due to severe understaffing and a lack of space. When another hospital goes on lockdown, their already-overflowing waiting rooms become completely unmanageable. The show presents this as a reflection of a genuine national crisis in healthcare.

With a nursing shortage and chronic underfunding, hospital administrators see AI as a tool to boost productivity. The drama highlights how this logic is flawed, focusing on problems that no algorithm can fix.

A grounded take on a trending tech debate

The series could still climax with a catastrophic AI error leading to a lawsuit. Its power, however, lies in its slower, more grounded examination of workplace dynamics. The technology is presented as a seductive but inadequate answer to profound institutional problems.

By using the high-stakes, life-or-death context of an emergency room, The Pitt makes the abstract dangers of generative AI feel immediate and visceral. The show's central thesis is that you cannot code your way out of a human resources crisis.