Physicians reveal outlooks and concerns about use of artificial intelligence in medical care

LAWRENCE — Whether it’s the Emergency Medical Hologram in “Star Trek” or the “MedPod” in the “Alien” films, the creators of science fiction have long considered the healing possibilities of artificial intelligence. Now physicians are also pondering the modern reality of such futuristic concepts.

“It’s easy to speculate about how medicine will change with the emergence of AI. But for this research, we were concerned with assessing how medical professionals are actually thinking about it in the present,” said John Symons, professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas.

His new paper “Perceptions and attitudes toward artificial intelligence among frontline physicians and physicians’ assistants in Kansas: a cross-sectional survey” suggests that perceptions of benefits, trust, risks, communication barriers, regulation and liability issues influence health care professionals’ intention to use AI, regardless of their technological familiarity.

The research appears in JAMIA Open.

Co-written by Robert Badgett and Rosey Zackula of the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Rajeev Seecheran of the University of New Mexico and Tanner Dean with Intermountain Health, Salt Lake City, the research found that the top concerns medical professionals have are liability-related and responsibility-related. But the respondents also shared a concern about how the practice of medicine and the satisfaction of interacting with patients might be reduced or eliminated.

“Let’s say I’m a physician in Kansas, and I have 1,000 avatars of me out there on people’s phones. These reflect my expertise, my bedside manner, etc.,” Symons said.

“People would interact with these avatars during their day. They’d say, ‘OK, doctor, I’ve got this ailment. What do you think?’ Obviously, the amount of time people can spend with these devices far exceeds the availability of a doctor. But how is my responsibility going to be distributed across 1,000 instances of me … or at least of my presence, of my image?”

As alluded to in the title of the paper, both physicians and physician assistants’ responses were nearly identical. While that proved somewhat predictable, what really surprised Symons were responses involving AI fluency.

“We would expect that people who are more familiar with the technology would have more refined or different kinds of concerns,” Symons said. “But, typically, all the concerns echo an interest in the more social consequences of AI. That is broadly consonant with the kinds of research we’re doing at the Center for Cyber-Social Dynamics, where we’re seeing social transformation as becoming a more pressing concern than traditional concerns about privacy or security.”

To obtain a comprehensive sample of participants, an email invitation was sent to all 12,290 actively licensed physicians and physician assistants of the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts (KBHA). The KBHA is the state's medical licensing and regulatory board for 16 different health professions. Of these active members, 532 responses were received.

Currently, physicians are already using AI in limited capacities.

“There are research applications of AI that are extremely prominent in the biomedical fields. There are office levels of paperwork applications of AI we can point to. You can also find many examples in imaging and diagnostics. But so far, day-to-day clinical use of AI isn’t part of your normal internal medicine practice,” Symons said.

What are some ways it might be used by physicians in the near future?

“Likely applications of AI will involve avatars for doctors,” he said.

“Your doctor will be present as an AI on your phone or computer. It’s very likely that — assuming we can tackle the legislative problems, liability issues and the economics of such things — we will have broadened access to high-quality medical advice when we want it. And it would also be great if these artifacts were somehow attached to the authority and competence of a practicing doctor so they could write prescriptions and review the interaction you had with the AI.”

A native of Cork, Ireland, Symons has been at KU since 2012. An expert in metaphysics and epistemology of science and philosophy of technology, he has written or edited a dozen books, including “The History and Philosophy of Materialism” (2024), “Formal Reasoning: A Guide to Critical Thinking” (2017) and “The Architecture of Cognition: Rethinking Fodor and Pylyshyn’s Systematicity Challenge” (2014). He is the director of the Center for Cyber-Social Dynamics.

“The use of AI will dramatically alter the way we value labor and expertise in the medical professions,” Symons said.

“All of this is provisional, of course, on the kinds of institutional frameworks that insurance companies and large medical groups impose on us. While it’s difficult to foresee how the economics of medicine will change in the United States, it’s clear that something has to change. We’re all dissatisfied with the current model of medical care, and this will be an opportunity for new economic models for health care to emerge.”