Are Med Students Cheating if They Use AI?

Los Angeles – Using artificial intelligence (AI) in medical school work is not considered cheating, asserts Dr. Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez, PhD, a computational biomedicine researcher at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. According to Gonzalez-Hernandez, AI can be effectively used in academic settings; however, proper guidance and structure are essential.

Dr. Gonzalez-Hernandez employs an "AI-friendly" approach in her academic program, instructing students on how to construct prompts and ensuring that they understand the generated content. She believes that worrying about cheating is a waste of time and energy when students should focus on learning how to properly utilize AI tools in their work.

Critics argue that relying on AI may hinder students' development of clinical reasoning skills. Dr. Eli Cahan, MD, MSc, an investigative journalist at Rolling Stone and a neonatal intensive care fellow at Stanford University, questioned the importance of clinical reasoning in modern medicine, citing GPS navigation as an example of a task now aided by technology.

However, Dr. Tina Hernandez-Boussard, PhD, a biomedical informatics professor at Stanford University, warned that over-reliance on AI can lead to de-skilling among medical trainees. She recounted an incident where medical residents were unable to make confident diagnoses during a power outage in Uganda, where AI tools for interpreting EKGs were unavailable.

Gonzalez-Hernandez agreed that over-reliance on AI could result in de-skilling, but she emphasized the importance of training physicians to minimize this risk. She suggested incorporating paper-and-pencil exercises in medical education to ensure that trainees retain essential skills.

On the other hand, Gonzalez-Hernandez pointed out that AI can add a layer of objectivity to medical documentation. By analyzing AI-generated notes, physicians can identify patterns in language and detect potential biases or uncertainties in patient assessments. This could potentially help prevent outcomes affected by implicit biases in treatment decisions, particularly among certain demographic groups.

In summary, Gonzalez-Hernandez believes that the use of AI in medical education holds significant potential, provided that educators can strike a balance between leveraging technology and ensuring that students retain critical clinical reasoning skills. By fostering a collaborative relationship between AI and human physicians, Gonzalez-Hernandez argued that AI can enhance medical education and improve patient care.