AI could make doctors less efficient, study finds
With the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), doctors appear to be becoming less adept at detecting colon tumors themselves, according to a study conducted in Poland published Wednesday, one of the first to raise the risk that this technology could undermine the skills of specialists.
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The regular practice of AI appears to have "detrimental effects on the skills of endoscopy specialists," summarizes this study published in the Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology .
More broadly, this is one of the first studies to seek to answer a crucial question: what effect can AI-based tools, increasingly used in the world of health, have on medical practice?
To answer this question, the authors studied data from several Polish centers specializing in endoscopies and colonoscopies, examinations which allow the detection of signs of digestive cancer, particularly of the colon.
The data was collected in 2021 and 2022. During this period, these centers have been widespread in the use of AI software that aims to help specialists better detect this type of tumor.
The researchers did not examine the results of the tests performed using AI. Instead, they looked at the results of those tests that continued to be performed by the same specialists, but without assistance.
Before the introduction of AI, 28.4% of these tests resulted in the detection of an adenoma, a benign tumor that can potentially develop into cancer. Once AI became widespread, this rate dropped to 22.4%.
This suggests, according to the authors, that the use of AI has degraded the ability of specialists to identify the tumors concerned.
The study, however, does not allow us to be certain: it is possible that, over the same period, factors other than AI played a role in the rate of tumors detected. "Still, endoscopy specialists would be wrong to neglect the results of this study," warns specialist Omer Ahmad, who was not involved in this work, in the same issue of Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology .
For him, this study is a first warning, which certainly requires confirmation, on the dangers of AI in terms of "the slow erosion of fundamental skills."
"These results qualify the current enthusiasm for quickly adopting AI-based technologies," he concludes, emphasizing that this is the first real-life study that points to a loss of medical skills.
LE Journal de Montreal
