The Lancet study warns that routine AI use in colonoscopies could erode doctors’ diagnostic skills by as much as 20 per cent.

Artificial intelligence is not only eroding cognitive ability of causal users. A recent study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology has offered clinical evidence that regular use of AI tools can lead to loss of essential skills among healthcare professionals.

This raises urgent concerns about the wide adoption of AI in the healthcare space.

While earlier studies showed de-skilling owing to use of AI as a theoretical risk, the latest study shows real-world data that may potentially demonstrate de-skilling owing to use of AI in diagnostic colonoscopies. 

“This would have implications for other areas of medicine as any de-skilling effect would likely be observed more generally. There may be a risk that health professionals who get accustomed to using AI support will perform more poorly than they originally did if the AI support becomes suddenly unavailable, for example due to cyber-attacks or compromised IT systems,” Dr Catherin Menon, principal lecturer at University of Hertfordshire’s Department of Computer Science, was quoted as saying by Science Media Centre. 

Source:Indianexpress