This cartoon really has only one small flaw: the patient still has a few sensor-free spots left. Smartwatch, smartphone, sensors on the arms and legs. Something is flashing somewhere, something is vibrating somewhere else, and something keeps going “beep.” Next to him, the doctor is sitting in front of a wall of monitors full of curves and signals, while artificial intelligence floats on the right like a friendly digital spirit, apparently the only one claiming to still have the full picture.

The idea behind it is actually quite clever. Multiple sclerosis does not only happen during a follow-up visit at the clinic. It happens in everyday life: while walking, typing, sleeping, working, or climbing stairs. Wearables and digital biomarkers could turn the classic medical snapshot into a movie. Step count, walking speed, activity, fine motor function, or sleep patterns can provide information about what happens between two appointments. The only problem is that a movie produces considerably more data than a photograph. And more data does not automatically mean more knowledge. If someone walks fewer steps today than yesterday, that may indicate progression—or simply rain.

This is where AI comes in. Not as a replacement for the physician, but as a filter. It could scan thousands of measurements, identify trends, and ultimately say only: “Something is changing here. Take a closer look.” That may be the truly intelligent part: not producing even more data, but extracting a few relevant signals from the noise. After all, nobody wants the doctor to start the morning by personally greeting 284,319 sensor measurements.

The cartoon therefore captures both the promise and the risk of digital medicine. We set out to understand the patient better and could end up putting so many screens in the room that we can barely see the patient anymore. Good digitalization should achieve exactly the opposite: computers measure, algorithms sort, AI filters—and people talk to each other.