Would you be happy being diagnosed by an artificial intelligence platform instead of seeing a human medic? It would appear that patients are split down the middle on this issue, according to new research, with a slight bias towards those being less enthused about the machine doctor.
Artificial intelligence-powered medical treatment options are becoming more widely available. The advantage, according to developers, is with improved diagnostic accuracy. However, this does not necessarily mean that the public are warming to the technological advance.
A new study led by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers has found that about 52 percent of participants have said they would choose a human doctor rather than AI for diagnosis and treatment.
This suggests patients tend to primarily rely on doctors’ clinical judgment, even when it is at odds with statistical judgment.
The reason for such doubts is because many patients are not convinced the diagnoses provided by AI are as trustworthy of those delivered by human medical professionals.
According to lead researcher Dr. Marvin Slepian: “While many patients appear resistant to the use of AI, accuracy of information, nudges and a listening patient experience may help increase acceptance”.
He adds: “To ensure that the benefits of AI are secured in clinical practice, future research on best methods of physician incorporation and patient decision making is required.”
For the research, test subjects were placed into scenarios as mock patients and each subject was asked whether they would prefer to have an AI system or a physical doctor for diagnosis and treatment, and under what types of circumstances.
The results showed that, overall, participants were almost evenly split, with more than 52 percent choosing human doctors as a preference versus approximately 47 percent choosing an AI diagnostic method. The differences remained the same irrespective of the disease severity. However, the age of the patient was a decisive factor, with those being in favour of AI decreasing with age.
This led Dr. Slepian to state: “The onus will be on physicians and others in health care to ensure that information that resides in AI systems is accurate, and to continue to maintain and enhance the accuracy of AI systems as they will play an increasing role in the future of health care.”
The research has been published in the journal PLOS Digital Health, titled “Diverse Patients Attitudes Towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Diagnosis.”
