On vacation in Greece since July 17, I figured it was a good opportunity to see how artificial intelligence was perceived in this small European Union country, which sits at the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. My curiosity was amplified by the fact that I was far from the famous islands like Santorini or Mykonos, which are typically overrun by tourists.
The first four days of my trip took me to Ioannina, a town in the country’s northwest, a region of mountaineers and shepherds. Here, unlike the sunbaked islands to the south, the landscape is dominated by lush green forests and imposing mountains. The heat wave sweeping through Greece this mid July has kept many tourists from tackling the area’s hiking trails. Locals also told me that the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has emptied the region of the thousands of Israeli tourists who usually visit each summer. In Ioannina, if you ask for fish, the waiters give you a look that says, “What are you talking about?” It is a stark reminder that this is not the Greece of mythical beaches, but a world unto itself.
This sense of remoteness made me even more curious. Was the technology that dominates every conversation in New York, in major American companies, and on Wall Street, even a topic of discussion here?
On Monday, July 21, after admiring the sunset over the lake where Ioannina’s residents gather, I found myself at a restaurant with friends of friends. There were four of us, including two locals: a doctor named Thomas Tzimas, a seasoned physician at the local public hospital, and an engineer named Aristotelis Yfantis. After holding back for the first part of the nearly four hour meal, I turned to Dr. Tzimas and asked if he used AI.
He smiled. I immediately felt I had asked the wrong question, that I was projecting my tech saturated reality onto his. Just because my work revolves around AI does not mean everyone else does. But I was wrong. I had just stumbled upon one of the most AI savvy doctors I had ever met. Here, in a small town nestled among the Greek mountains, AI had already infiltrated the public hospital. He was not only using it daily but was also keenly aware of its flaws and had developed his own methods to counter them. His secret, he would tell me, was controlling the AI’s “temperature” to prevent it from inventing facts. Dr. Tzimas, 56, is an Internal medicine specialist. He is the director of the Internal Medicine Department at General Hospital of Ioannina “G. Hatzikosta.”
I might as well tell you right away: do not get Dr. Tzimas started on AI. With his calm and measured voice, he offers an endless stream of analysis on the subject. He walks you through his daily hospital routine, providing a fascinating glimpse into how large language models have been adopted here, and on the ground perspective I often feel is missing from my reporting back in America.
First, Dr. Tzimas dismisses the most common fear. “No, not at all,” the 56 year old says when I ask if he worries about being replaced. “My job involves experience that AI cannot yet replicate. I need to listen to lung, heart, and bowel sounds, palpate patients, and examine them.”
He continues, “While AI might analyze a digital photograph of a skin lesion, it cannot palpate a patient and feel the intensity of pain or guarding. These are qualities that rely on a doctor’s senses, like smelling a patient’s breath to detect diabetic ketoacidosis.”
The key, he told me, is human interaction. Observing a patient’s demeanor and hygiene provides crucial information that an algorithm cannot easily process. “AI helps save time,” he concedes, “but it needs an experienced physician to input those essential details.”
He is also a pragmatist. Any medical profession that does not require a human touch, he insists, is already on the path to being replaced. First on his list is radiology. He says specialists who interpret X-rays and MRIs are becoming obsolete because AI has grown extraordinarily good at spotting lung nodules, fractures, and subtle neurological conditions. Studies published in journals like The Lancet have shown AI models matching or even outperforming human radiologists in identifying cancers on mammograms.
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