Practically Expanding AI's role in Infectious Diseases

At IDWeek 2025 in Atlanta, Nicholas P. Marshall, MD, FAAP, fellow of pediatric infectious diseases and clinical informatics at Stanford University, discussed the growing potential of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to change workflows and decision-making in the infectious diseases space. Marshall assisted in a workshop titled “Generative AI in Infectious Diseases: A Hands-On Workshop for Clinical and Research Applications.”

While other specialties such as radiology and critical care have adopted AI tools, Marshall noted that infectious diseases has been slower to integrate the technology.

“AI has a huge potential in infectious diseases,” he said. “Other specialties... have really jumped into integrating artificial intelligence into their workflows and automating a lot of what they do.” However, he explained, “There’s a lot of clinical complexity and nuances with infectious diseases that may not be well positioned for AI in its current state.”

Marshall emphasized that the only challenge isn’t a lack of opportunity, but a potential gap in technical familiarity and understanding of what the ever-changing technology is.

“Many infectious diseases providers don’t have formal training or knowledge in…clinical informatics, machine learning, and other AI technologies,” he said. “We wear a lot of hats in the hospital,” he added, citing antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention, and public health collaborations. “A lot of those tasks that we do are redundant… and that’s where AI can really step in and help reduce some of those redundant cases.”

Key areas where AI could make a difference include:

• Automating repetitive stewardship and infection prevention workflows
• Improving documentation through ambient listening technology
• Supporting evidence-based decisions with literature-trained AI models

Addressing common misconceptions, Marshall said, “I think of AI as augmented intelligence, not artificial intelligence. It’s a way to extend what we do, automate our routine workflows, and really extend our reach as specialists.”

He highlighted several tools he uses daily, including ambient listening software that “takes what we’re saying and translates and summarizes it into notes,” allowing for more meaningful patient interaction. Another is a medical AI platform that “performs a literature review across hundreds of papers… and shows me the exact papers that it’s pulling from line by line.”

Reference:

Luther V, et al. Generative AI in Infectious Diseases: A Hands-On Workshop for Clinical and Research Applications. Presented at IDWeek 2025. October 19-22, 2025. Atlanta, GA.