In Steve’s presentation, ‘The future of health’, he explored the accelerating pace of change and placed physiotherapists at the centre of the opportunities that lay ahead.

Steve opened by charting the timeline of recent technological advancements, noting that each lasts roughly half as long as the one before. 

The smartphone era lasted around 15 years; before that, the internet dominated for 30 years. 

Now, said Steve, with the rise of AI and the imminent quantum age, the pace of transformation is exponential. 

This shift is driven by large language models, which understand patterns in human language and can generate ideas and even entirely new knowledge.

For physiotherapists, Steve said this represents a profound advantage, not a threat. 

Physiotherapy was referenced repeatedly as an example of where technology cannot replace human interaction and trust—but can radically enhance insight, capability and efficiency. 

He described physiotherapists as some of the only people whom patients still physically interact with in a world increasingly mediated by screens. ‘No-one is touching anyone anymore—except the physios,’ he said.

Steve demonstrated how AI agents—autonomous digital systems capable of setting their own questions and running ongoing investigations—could become powerful tools for clinicians. 

He showed how an AI agent tasked with analysing ‘the future of physiotherapy’ generated research summaries, implementation plans and even a podcast-style discussion on the topic.

Physiotherapists, Steve said, could consider building their own personal AI systems: digital twins containing their clinical knowledge, research history and specialist experience.

These could become powerful aids for problem-solving, continuing education and clinical decision support. The technology to do this exists now, he said.

But perhaps the most striking vision Steve offered was the coming era of humanoid robots. 

He described robots with soft exoskeletons, capable of learning through verbal instruction and imitation. 

He positioned physiotherapists as essential to teaching robots how to interact safely and effectively in a human-shaped world. 

Whether assisting with lifting, mobility support or repetitive rehabilitation tasks, robots could serve as extensions of clinical capacity. 

‘You show them once and, unlike your kids, you don’t need to tell them again,’ he said.

Despite his lighthearted delivery, Steve’s message was serious—the future of health will belong to practitioners who embrace technology as a partner, not a competitor. 

AI, biomimicry-based software and human-centred robots will not replace the empathy, clinical judgement and hands-on expertise of physiotherapists—but they will redefine what is possible, he said.

His closing challenge to the APASC25 audience was that physiotherapists must step confidently into this new era, leveraging emerging tools while staying grounded in the human connection at the heart of the profession. 

‘You’re going to be the biggest beneficiaries of this revolution,’ he said. ‘If, and only if, you embrace it.’