Reliance on AI is making health workers less capable

Telegraph

2 days ago

Relying on artificial intelligence could be making health workers less capable, a study has suggested.
It is the first research to assess 'the phenomenon of deskilling' in medics who have been using AI.
The study followed health care workers in Poland carrying out a diagnostic test for the early signs of bowel cancer.
Endoscopists, who can include doctors or specially trained nurses, perform a test called a colonoscopy to look for precancerous growths in the bowel known as adenomas.
These pre-cancerous growths can be detected and removed, preventing them from becoming bowel cancer.
AI oversight
Advances in AI technology have led to the development of computer-assisted polyp detection systems, which have been found to help these health workers spot more adenomas.
Experts wanted to assess whether the continuous use of AI to help in the procedure had led to a dip in results when endoscopists performed the colonoscopies without AI.
The research team analysed 1,442 colonoscopies conducted by 19 experienced health workers before and after AI systems were rolled out at certain centres in 2021.
The study, published in the Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology journal, found that the rate of detection of the precancerous polyps was 6 per cent lower after the introduction of AI in standard and non-AI assisted colonoscopies.
The average rate of detection of the growths during colonoscopies was 28.4 per cent before AI began to be used. After this time, the rate fell to 22.4 per cent among medics conducting non-AI colonoscopies.
At the same time, the procedures that were AI-assisted had a detection rate of 25.3 per cent.
Researchers said the finding was 'concerning', given the rapid uptake of AI across healthcare.
Urgent research needed
Dr Marcin Romanczyk, one of the study authors from the Academy of Silesia in Poland, said: 'To our knowledge this is the first study to suggest a negative impact of regular AI use on healthcare professionals' ability to complete a patient-relevant task in medicine of any kind.
'Our results are concerning given the adoption of AI in medicine is rapidly spreading,' he said.
'We urgently need more research into the impact of AI on health professionals' skills across different medical fields.
'We need to find out which factors may cause or contribute to problems when healthcare professionals and AI systems don't work well together, and to develop ways to fix or improve these interactions.'
Professor Yuichi Mori, a study author from the University of Oslo in Norway, said the findings 'pose an interesting question about previous trials' that found detection rates were higher with the help of AI than without it during such tests.
He said: 'The endoscopists in the trials may have been negatively affected by continuous AI exposure'.
In a linked editorial, Omer Ahmad, a consultant gastroenterologist, interventional endoscopist and clinical research fellow at University College London, wrote: 'These findings temper the current enthusiasm for rapid adoption of AI-based technologies such as CADe and highlight the importance of carefully considering possible unintended clinical consequences.
'The study provides the first real-world clinical evidence for the phenomenon of deskilling, potentially affecting patient-related outcomes.'