Endoscopy doctors risk losing skills after AI reliance, study warns
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are helping doctors detect illnesses faster and more accurately. Still, a new study warns that relying on them could erode doctors’ own diagnostic abilities.
Study shows steep drop in doctors’ detection accuracy
A study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that after just three months of using an AI tool designed to identify precancerous growths during colonoscopies, physicians became significantly worse at finding them unaided.
Before the trial, doctors detected growths in about 28 percent of colonoscopies. After using AI and then returning to solo work, their detection rate dropped to just 22 percent, which is below their baseline.
“This is the first evidence that relying on A.I. tools might erode a doctor’s ability to perform fundamental skills without the technology, a phenomenon known as ‘deskilling,’” The New York Times reported.
Dr. Omer Ahmad, a gastroenterologist at University College Hospital London, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, emphasized the two-way influence of the technology: “We give A.I. inputs that affect its output, but it also seems to affect our behavior as well.”
While the trial was observational and cannot conclusively prove causation, experts note the findings mirror patterns seen in other industries. Pilots, for example, undergo retraining to maintain manual flying skills in the age of autopilots.
Debate grows on balancing AI and human oversight
The results sparked debate over whether the benefits of AI in healthcare outweigh the risks of skill erosion.
“I think the big question is going to be: So what? Is that important?” said Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of ‘A giant leap: how AI is transforming healthcare and what that means for our future.’
Wachter pointed out that many medical tools have made older skills obsolete, such as stethoscopes replacing traditional methods of examining the heart and lungs.
Yet he warned that during this transition period, deskilling could pose dangers when doctors must work without the aid of AI.
For Ahmad, the issue is more urgent. He cautioned that algorithms are not infallible and require constant human oversight. “If I lose the skills, how am I going to spot the errors?” he asked.
Medical schools and health systems are already considering countermeasures. UC San Diego Health has invested in simulation training to help doctors practice without AI support, while some medical schools are exploring restrictions on AI use for early trainees.
Dr. Adam Rodman of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center noted that the issue is particularly concerning for young physicians still developing their clinical foundation. “We’re increasingly calling it never-skilling,” he said.
With AI becoming deeply embedded in healthcare, the challenge now lies in finding a balance that embraces technological progress while ensuring that doctors don’t lose the skills patients still rely on.
