AI may revolutionise healthcare, but at the cost of doctors’ skills, says Lancet

Artificial intelligence has become a trusted ally in modern medicine, helping doctors make quicker and more accurate decisions. From spotting tumours on scans to predicting treatment outcomes, AI has shown remarkable potential. But a new study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology has raised an uncomfortable question: could too much reliance on AI actually weaken doctors’ own skills?

When Help Turns into Dependence

The study was carried out across four colonoscopy centres in Poland, where AI tools were introduced in late 2021 to detect polyps, small growths in the colon that can develop into cancer. Researchers noticed something surprising. The average detection rate of adenomas (non-cancerous but potentially risky cells) dropped from 28% before AI exposure to 22% after AI exposure. That is a 20% relative and 6% absolute reduction, suggesting that doctors who regularly used AI may have become less sharp when performing colonoscopies without it.

“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,” said Dr Marcin Romarnczyk of the Academy of Silesia. He warned that with AI rapidly spreading in healthcare, urgent research is needed to understand how it affects doctors’ long-term skills.

A Question of Balance

The findings also raised doubts about earlier randomised controlled trials, many of which reported higher adenoma detection rates with AI-assisted colonoscopy. According to co-author Yuichi Mori from the University of Oslo, the trials may have overlooked a crucial detail: repeated AI use could subtly dull doctors’ performance during standard, non-AI procedures.

The researchers argue that overexposure to decision-support systems may encourage a natural human tendency, over-reliance. This can make clinicians less focused, less motivated, and ultimately less responsible for the outcomes.

A Divided Opinion

Not everyone views the findings as a cause for alarm. Dr Vidur Mahajan, founder and CEO of CARPL.AI, argued that the focus should be on lifting average doctors to world-class levels rather than worrying about skill erosion. “Technology is an inevitable part of our lives and we must embrace the advantages of it by enabling the democratisation of it,” he said. Drawing an analogy, he added: “Imagine a world without Google Maps, would you trust a driver who does not use it?”

The Road Ahead

The study, funded by the European Commission, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the Italian Association for Cancer Research, underscores a critical dilemma: while AI promises to make healthcare safer and smarter, it may also carry hidden risks if doctors start trusting machines more than their own judgement.

Inputs from TOI