UK doctors sceptical of AI's role in treatment

Almost half of UK doctors would not use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to treat patients, although there is greater willingness to use it for diagnostic purposes.

A survey of 745 doctors carried out by Medscape UK reveals that 47% would not use GenAI to treat their patients, with 48% saying they would consider that use.

However, when it comes to using the technology to assist in diagnosis or advise on treatment options for their patients they were more receptive, with 57% saying they were enthusiastic about applications such as the use of AI to interpret medical images, and half saying it could help reduce the risk of medical and prescribing errors.

There was also consensus on the need for government and/or medical association oversight of the use of AI in healthcare, with 83% in favour of that, although a third were not confident that these bodies would be able to ensure patient confidentiality.

A large majority (86%) of respondents expressed concern about patients being exposed to misinformation through the use of GenAI, while 82% were worried that patients trying to self-diagnose could take AI more seriously than their doctor.

At the moment, the use of AI is currently limited mainly to researching medical conditions and routine tasks like office administration and patient scheduling, but almost all doctors agreed that it was important to become educated about AI and its applications in the medical workplace. Only one in 20 are currently using AI to treat their patients.

"What these results are telling us is that doctors have the same concerns that we all have about AI in relation to privacy, misinformation, and the need for regulation," commented Nadia El-Awady, editorial director at Medscape UK.

"Our research showed that half of those surveyed felt the use of AI could reduce the risk of medical error and can also be a useful information source for physicians themselves, both of which present significant benefits to patients," she added.

The results – indicating a mixture of optimism about the potential for AI and the risks it may pose – are in pretty close alignment with a survey by the Health Foundation earlier this year, which found that more than half of the UK public and three-quarters of NHS staff supported the use of these technologies in healthcare.

That revealed a high level of willingness among NHS workers to use AI to help ease the significant pressures facing the NHS; for example, by streamlining administrative tasks.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash