How Uber-like apps are disrupting nursing with AI and transforming schedules and income

Nursing is among the professions viewed as least at risk from AI disruption. Not so, says a new report.

The profession is being affected by artificial intelligence, as apps such as Clipboard Health and ShiftKey, where nurses can claim shifts as gig workers, grow, according to an April report by the AI Now Institute, a nonprofit group that researches AI's impacts on society

The apps, which have raised funding over the last few years, use automated systems to match nurses and healthcare establishments, including setting pay rates and monitoring performance metrics.

The apps show that AI's impact on jobs isn't limited to ones where the tech might entirely replace people, said Katie Wells, a senior fellow at the AI Now Institute.

"This is my attempt to push back on the displacement debates," Wells, one of the report's authors, told Business Insider.

Nurses, whose jobs often require physical work, specialized knowledge, and quick thinking when someone's health is on the line, aren't as likely to be immediately displaced by AI as people in other professions might be, according to the report, titled "Uber for Nursing: Part II."

People need healthcare in good economies and bad ones. And the need for nurses is expected to grow as the US population ages.

That's led some to point to nursing as a relatively secure job option, especially as AI upends careers in other sectors, such as tech.

Still, the gig-work apps for nursing share parallels with Uber and other established gig-work apps, Wells said.

For both groups of apps, algorithms play a prominent role in how users work, from determining pay to handling potential account deactivations, she said.

The report cites one nurse in Georgia, for example, who has used a gig-work nursing app and worked for DoorDash and Uber Eats.

The nurse pointed to similarities between the nursing and delivery apps, such as automated systems that screened her applications and pay determined by algorithms.

These apps are gaining traction in part because, like Uber, they offer more flexibility than traditional nursing roles.

Nurses can claim one shift at a time, for example. Ride-hailing and delivery drivers often cite flexibility as a benefit of working for apps like Uber.

There have been drawbacks to gig-work apps, too. Many gig workers say they face unpredictable pay rates and declining earnings over time.

The nursing apps could pose similar risks by using AI to manage nurses, AI Now's report said.

Clipboard Health and ShiftKey did not respond to requests for comment.

The apps "reflect a broader turn towards AI in the healthcare industry writ large, as AI systems increasingly mediate the relationship between workers and employers, giving those who control employment decisions more centralised power," the report said.