According to a research published on October 2nd by Clinical Imaging, many American students are influenced by concerns over having their potential jobs replaced by artificial Intelligence (AI). Many of those medical students are radiology students across the country.
The purpose of the study was to show whether medical students have significant anxiety about pursuing radiology as a career due to fear from AI. The survey was conducted in 32 US medical schools, and 463 students participated in it anonymously. It showed that one out of six students in the US would not choose radiology as their specialty at school because they are scared that AI would replace radiology in the near future.
Dr. Kristin Reeder of the Quinnipiac University Frank H. Netter School of Medicine stated that artificial intelligence has a negative impact on American medical students’ choice of radiology as a future career.
“This is a phenomenon influenced by both individual concerns and exposure to AI from the medical community.” He added.
Surprisingly, when medical students get exposed to AI, either at school or at home, they rank radiology lower. However, when they receive education in AI, they mostly will consider radiology as a career.
Reviewing the students’ responses, the researchers found out that half of those students considered radiology as one of their top three choices before the survey was conducted, and less than a third of those students wouldn’t pursue radiology due to fear from AI. This means that the concern toward AI and job decrease was correlated.
In addition, the researchers found out that fear from decreased job opportunities and lack of understanding radiology were associated with ranking radiology lower because of Artificial Intelligence.
The researchers believe that efforts to include Artificial Intelligence in the medical curriculum in the US are underway in small number.
To sum up, although AI has a significant negative impact on US medical students’ choice of radiology as a future career, we all know that it’s clear that artificial intelligence continues to form the future of radiology and what medical students think of it.
