WRITER Katrina Ronne

Artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived in ophthalmology in waves, like most professions across Australia, not as a distant promise. The question is no longer whether AI will change the way ophthalmologists work, because it already has.

The question now is how practitioners navigate it, and how they ensure the irreplaceable human element of medicine remains at the centre of care.

That is precisely what the ASO Skills Expo 2026 is designed to address.

Taking place on 6–7 June at the Sofitel Gold Coast Broadbeach, the Expo brings together Australia’s ophthalmology community for two days of hands-on skills training, peer learning, and expert discussion – all framed around the single most consequential shift in the profession’s modern history.

The pace of change has been striking. A recent survey found that ophthalmologists identified AI as by far the most transformative trend in the specialty, cited by 78% of respondents.1 The technology is already reshaping how clinicians approach their most challenging diagnostic work in medicine.

In age-related macular degeneration, AI-driven models can analyse optical coherence tomography images alongside clinical data to predict how patients will respond to treatments such as anti-VEGF injections – identifying who is likely to benefit from specific therapies and who may require alternative strategies. In diabetic retinopathy, algorithms are approaching or matching expert performance and can be deployed at scale. In surgical planning, AI tools are refining intraocular lens calculations and analysing intraoperative data.

Workflow benefits are equally significant. AI tools that support medical workflows, such as ambient clinical scribes and automated documentation, are beginning to have a meaningful impact by reducing administrative burden and allowing ophthalmologists to focus more on patient care.

Despite the rapid advances, leading clinicians and researchers are consistent on one point: AI does not replace ophthalmologists. It extends them.

Across sessions at major international meetings in 2026, speakers have stressed that AI is not a replacement for physician judgement, but a tool to enhance precision, efficiency, and scalability. As one expert put it plainly, AI in retina care outputs probabilities, not diagnoses – and will not replace retinal expertise or clinical judgement. This distinction matters deeply. The ability to communicate a diagnosis, to read a patient’s fear, to weigh values alongside evidence, to make a nuanced decision in a complex case – these remain uniquely human capabilities.

The most effective clinicians of the next decade will be those who understand AI well enough to deploy it wisely, and who retain the skills to go beyond it when it counts.

The tools that will win in clinical practice won’t necessarily be the flashiest – they’ll be the ones that make a busy clinic run better.

The ASO Skills Expo has always been about practical, applied education. This kind of learning is what translates directly back into better patient outcomes, and the 2026 edition is no different, except that the stakes feel higher.

Ophthalmologists and industry leaders attending this year’s Expo will have the opportunity to engage with AI, not as spectators, but as informed practitioners, equipped to evaluate tools entering the market, ask the right questions of vendors and colleagues, and make decisions that are right for their patients and their practice.

The goal is for clinicians to walk away with a practical, grounded understanding of where AI fits into current clinical workflows – not as a futuristic concept, but as a real support tool for diagnosis, risk stratification, and monitoring.

In a specialty dedicated to protecting one of the most precious human senses, the convergence of technological intelligence and human expertise has never felt more relevant – or more necessary.

The ASO Skills Expo 2026 takes place 6–7 June at the Sofitel Gold Coast Broadbeach. Registrations are open at asoeye.org/2026asoskillsexpo.

Katrina Ronne is the CEO of The Australian Society of Ophthalmologists (ASO). The author acknowledges the use of AI to help edit this article.

References available at mivision.com.au.