Conditions of Trust: Physicians’ Views on Artificial Intelligence in Medical Practice in Italy

Following the increase in life expectancy and the rapid growth of the over-70s population, demands for medical services have increased and there is a problem of a shortage of doctors and healthcare personnel. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to offer innovative solutions and make a fundamental contribution to medical practice through data management, personalized treatment plans development and by supporting diagnostic decisions. However, faced with these benefits, the adoption of AI in medicine remains low, as the decision to use an AI algorithm in medical practice depends on several factors, a fundamental one being trust in medical AI.

In the literature, doctors’ trust in AI in medical practice is regularly proposed as a way of approaching the risks associated with medical artificial intelligence (Starke et al 2020). Doctors may in fact find themselves threatened by AI which could make their work obsolete or lead them to face legal action due to diagnostic and therapeutic errors caused either by predictions produced by an algorithm, or even by errors caused by not using them – in a hypothetical future of widespread AI acceptance.

In this paper, we will identify and explore the barriers to trust that clinicians in Italy face regarding incorporating AI in their everyday medical practice. Empirical findings in this area will help to expand the discussion on the facets of trust in AI in Healthcare (HCAI) to the wider context, since building trust requires taking into account not only AI applications and end users, but also wider organizational, cultural, governmental and environmental factors that can influence trust formation.

References:

Starke, G., Van Den Brule, R., Elger, B.S., Haselager, P., 2022. Intentional machines: A defence of trust in medical artificial intelligence. Bioethics 36, 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12891