German medical students´ views regarding artificial intelligence in medicine: A cross-sectional survey

Background Medical students will likely be most impacted by the envisaged move to artificial intelligence (AI) driven digital medicine, and there is a need to better understand their views regarding the use of AI technology in medicine. This study aimed to explore German medical students´ views about AI in medicine. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in October 2019 with all new medical students at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Technical University Munich. This represented approximately 10% of all new medical students in Germany. Results A total of 844 medical students participated (91.9% response rate). Two thirds (64.4%) did not feel well informed about AI in medicine. Just over a half (57.4%) of students thought that AI has useful applications in medicine, particularly in drug research and development (82.5%), less so for clinical uses. Male students were more likely to agree with advantages of AI, and female participants were more likely to be concerned about disadvantages. The vast majority of students thought that when AI is used in medicine that it is important that there are legal rules regarding liability (97%) and oversight mechanisms (93.7%), that physicians should be consulted prior to implementation (96.8%), that developers should be able to explain to them the details of the algorithm (95.6%), that algorithms should use representative data (93.9%), and that patients should always be informed when AI is used (93.5%). Conclusions Medical schools and continuing medical education organisers need to promptly develop programs to ensure that clinicians are able to fully realize the potential of AI technology. It is also important that legal rules and oversight are implemented to ensure that future clinicians are not faced with a workplace where important issues around responsibility are not clearly regulated. Author summary Medical students will likely be most impacted by the expected move to AI-driven digital medicine and there is a need to better understand their views regarding the topic. Germany offers a useful setting to examine these issues due to the number of AI initiatives in healthcare and the recently enacted Digital Healthcare Act. In contrast to previous studies that have typically used small online samples and focused on radiology, we used a paper-based survey and focus on Munich medical students´ general views about AI in medicine, and achieved a very high (92%) response rate. We found that medical students had relatively low awareness regarding AI in medicine and that the issue of responsibility was a major concern for them. These findings support calls for education programs to be developed to ensure that clinicians are able to fully realize the potential of AI technology. It is also important that legal rules and oversight are implemented to ensure that future clinicians are not faced with a workplace where important issues around responsibility are not clearly regulated