How a bowel cancer examination revealed AI’s negative impact on doctors
The ‘concerning’ impact of AI on health workers
- A new study suggests that regular use of artificial intelligence could potentially “deskill” health workers, a finding described as “concerning” given AI's rapid adoption in healthcare.
- The research focused on endoscopists performing colonoscopies to detect precancerous growths (adenomas) in the bowel.
- The study, conducted in Poland, analysed 1,442 colonoscopies and found a 6 per cent lower rate of polyp detection when endoscopists worked without AI after its introduction.
- This is believed to be the first study to indicate a negative impact of regular AI use on healthcare professionals' ability to complete a patient-relevant task in medicine.
- Academics are calling for urgent further research into AI's impact on health professionals' skills across various medical fields to understand and mitigate potential problems.