Abstract

Background: The emerging field of artificial intelligence (AI) will probably affect the practice for the next generation of doctors. However, the students' views on AI have not been largely investigated.Methods: An anonymous electronic survey on AI was designed for medical and dental students to explore: (1) sources of information about AI, (2) AI applications and concerns, (3) AI status as a topic in medicine, and (4) students' feelings and attitudes. The questionnaire was advertised on social media platforms in 2020. Security measures were employed to prevent fraudulent responses. Mann-Whitney U-test was employed for all comparisons. A sensitivity analysis was also performed by binarizing responses to express disagreement and agreement using the Chi-squared test.Results: Three thousand one hundred thirty-three respondents from 63 countries from all continents were included. Most respondents reported having at least a moderate understanding of the technologies underpinning AI and of their current application, with higher agreement associated with being male (p < 0.0001), tech-savvy (p < 0.0001), pre-clinical student (p < 0.006), and from a developed country (p < 0.04). Students perceive AI as a partner rather than a competitor (72.2%) with a higher agreement for medical students (p = 0.002). The belief that AI will revolutionize medicine and dentistry (83.9%) with greater agreement for students from a developed country (p = 0.0004) was noted. Most students agree that the AI developments will make medicine and dentistry more exciting (69.9%), that AI shall be part of the medical training (85.6%) and they are eager to incorporate AI in their future practice (99%).Conclusion: Currently, AI is a hot topic in medicine and dentistry. Students have a basic understanding of AI principles, a positive attitude toward AI and would like to have it incorporated into their training.

Highlights

  • Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the concept of automated machines able to perform human tasks [1]

  • Regarding the sources of information on artificial intelligence (AI), most relied on web browsing (1,883 responses, 60.1%) and social media (1,861, 59.4%), while least relied on university (1,053, 33.6%) and friends or family (772, 24.6%)

  • A breakdown of survey responses for each country who had more than 50 respondents is provided in Supplementary Table 4

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Summary

Methods

An anonymous electronic survey on AI was designed for medical and dental students to explore: [1] sources of information about AI, [2] AI applications and concerns, [3] AI status as a topic in medicine, and [4] students’ feelings and attitudes. The questionnaire was advertised on social media platforms in 2020. Security measures were employed to prevent fraudulent responses. Mann-Whitney U-test was employed for all comparisons. A sensitivity analysis was performed by binarizing responses to express disagreement and agreement using the Chi-squared test

Results
INTRODUCTION
Ethical Considerations
Study Design
RESULTS
Principal Survey Findings
Key Survey Results
CONCLUSION
ETHICS STATEMENT
Full Text
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