Imagine a future without having to send an ophthalmologist on a multi-day tour across the vast Australian landscape to examine regional and remote patients. Instead, a nurse or teacher downloads an app, patients stare into a smartphone camera for 20 seconds, and within minutes, AI flags those needing follow-up care. Those few are referred efficiently, accurately, and affordably. Huge gains are made, not only with time, but in terms of eye health outcomes.
It’s just one example of how AI is going to transform the work of eyecare and other health professionals. It’s only around the corner and something to be excited about.
Now, before you picture humanoid robots replacing eyecare professionals, let’s zoom in on how AI is already quietly reshaping your world.
In small healthcare businesses – like independent optometry practices and private ophthalmology clinics – AI is already lending a hand. Tools are helping practitioners summarise patient notes, draft referral letters, write emails, and even provide clinical insights from the latest research. If you’re using something to transcribe or summarise a consultation, you’re already in the AI game.
On the marketing side, I’ve heard of practices using AI to mine insights from shopping centre data to tailor offers based on foot traffic demographics. Promotions for Gucci glasses one night, affordable family packages the next – all guided by trends AI can pick up in large datasets.
But if you’re an independent practice owner reading this, thinking, “I don’t know where to start”, you’re not alone – and you’re not behind.
There’s no need to become an AI aficionado overnight or invest in a costly subscription upfront. You just need to experiment. Start small. Sign up for a free trial of a platform that interests you – image generation, transcription, writing assistance. Dip a toe in. You might be surprised how intuitive these tools are. If you’ve got a 20-something-year-old optical dispenser, ask them what they’re using. They probably know more than you think.
If you’re 64 years old and ready to hang up the trial lens set soon, you might be able to skate through. But if you’re anywhere from 30 to 50, you have two, maybe three decades of career ahead. AI isn’t a trend to “wait out”. It’s something to grow with.
One concern is that AI will “depersonalise” patient care. But used well, it does the opposite. One financial advisor I spoke to has an AI scribe that listens in on client calls and drafts the advice afterwards. That saves him about an hour per client. He can either see more clients or spend more time understanding each client’s story. That’s the point: AI doesn’t remove the human element. It lets us be more human, by minimising the administrative overheads of practice life. Surely that’s music to the ears of often more time-intensive independent optometry practice.
Further on the time horizon things get even more interesting.
Imagine if a body like RANZCO developed its own large language model – its own bespoke GPT. It’s trained not on the entire internet, but on peer-reviewed research, expert consensus, and local clinical guidelines. A regional optometrist could query it mid-appointment, or a patient could get preliminary advice online before even setting foot in the practice. Individual practitioners wouldn’t have the resources to build such a system on their own AI, but you’d subscribe to one built by the best minds in your profession – for a fraction of the cost of hiring another staff member.
All of this leads to a future of truly personalised care. Your patient walks in, and your AI-enhanced system knows their eye health history, preferences, language, even their eyewear style.
And on that note, eyewear may serve as the vehicle in an AI-reliant world.
We’re already close to real-time language translation via smart glasses. Put in a clinical context, an elderly Greek patient walks into your practice, you greet them in English, but your glasses instantly translate their reply played through speakers embedded in your frames.
I believe eyewear will be one of the most exciting technology platforms of the next two decades. We’re headed toward a world without language barriers – and for an industry that puts devices on faces, that’s a big deal.
So, if you take one thing from this: the genie’s out of the bottle. You don’t need to master AI overnight. But it’s time to start. Start small, stay curious, and surround yourself with people who get it. Because the future isn’t just coming – in eyecare, some would argue it’s already looking you straight in the eye.
NOTE: Adam Spencer was a keynote speaker at ODMAFair25 where he presented on AI in business and eyecare. His newsletter can be subscribed via: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/u0z4s4.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Name: Adam Spencer
Qualifications: Dr Spencer (honoris causa)
Job title: AI educator and maths nerd
Location: Sydney
More reading
ASO: The worry around ‘managed care’
Why ophthalmologists should embrace clinical auditing
Cataract surgery: Why patient reported outcome measures matter
