American public opinion on artificial intelligence in healthcare

Abstract

Billions of dollars are being invested into developing medical artificial intelligence (AI) systems and yet public opinion of AI in the medical field seems to be mixed. Although high expectations for the future of medical AI do exist in the American public, anxiety and uncertainty about what it can do and how it works is widespread. Continuing evaluation of public opinion on AI in healthcare is necessary to ensure alignment between patient attitudes and the technologies adopted. We conducted a representative-sample survey (total N = 203) to measure the trust of the American public towards medical AI. Primarily, we contrasted preferences for AI and human professionals to be medical decision-makers. Additionally, we measured expectations for the impact and use of medical AI in the future. We present four noteworthy results: (1) The general public strongly prefers human medical professionals make medical decisions, while at the same time believing they are more likely to make culturally biased decisions than AI. (2) The general public is more comfortable with a human reading their medical records than an AI, both now and “100 years from now.” (3) The general public is nearly evenly split between those who would trust their own doctor to use AI and those who would not. (4) Respondents expect AI will improve medical treatment but more so in the distant future than immediately.

Yemeni university students public perceptions toward the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare: A cross-sectional study

“…The majority of respondents believe that doctors should have the final say in diagnosis and therapy, despite AI systems, raising questions about the role of AI in healthcare. This study’s results are not completely surprising as they fit with most past research on patient and general public opinions; human physicians are typically trusted and followed more than AI systems [15,16,18,19,12]. This may be due to the perception that doctors have a level of expertise and experience that AI systems cannot replicate.…”

“…The participants may have concerns about the reliability and accuracy of AI systems, worrying that a malfunction or an error in the algorithm could have severe consequences for patient outcomes. A common finding in many studies is that patients want physician supervision of AI and prefer a physician in a direct comparison [15,12,16,19]. A particularly striking example of the high respect and trust in the competence of physicians compared to AI tools is provided by the study of York and colleagues using the example of radiographic fracture identification.…”

“…This awareness is particularly significant considering the current global trend towards integrating AI into various aspects of healthcare [12]. This perception aligns with the growing impact of AI in healthcare, prompting individuals to acknowledge and adapt to the evolving landscape of the medical profession [12,15,16,19].…”

“…The finding that more than half of respondents recognized the changing demands of the medical profession due to artificial intelligence can be justified by the increasing integration of AI technologies in healthcare. As AI applications become more prevalent, healthcare professionals and the general public will likely become more aware of the transformative effects on medical practices [1][2][3][4][5][6]17,19]. This awareness is particularly significant considering the current global trend towards integrating AI into various aspects of healthcare [12].…”