Despite significant advances in orthopaedic surgery, variability still exists between providers and practice locations, and process inefficiencies are found throughout the health care continuum. Evolving technologies, namely artificial intelligence, challenge the status quo by improving patient care in four areas: diagnosis, management, research and systems analysis. Artificial intelligence shows promise in promoting practice efficiency, personalizing patient care, improving institutional research capacity, and expanding high quality orthopaedic care to lower resource settings. Physicians should be involved in the development of artificial intelligence algorithms to ensure that patients derive maximum benefit from new advances while considering the ethical challenges of implementation.