Patients’ affinity for AI messages drops if they know the technology was used
In a survey led by Duke Health, patients who were shown messages written either by artificial intelligence (AI) or human clinicians indicated a preference for responses drafted by AI. However, this preference diminished, though not completely eliminated, when they were told AI was involved.
The study, published March 11 in JAMA Network Open, showed high overall satisfaction with communications written by both AI and humans. This suggests that informing patients about AI usage does not significantly reduce confidence in the message.
Senior author Anand Chowdhury, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, said, “Every health system is grappling with this issue of whether we disclose the use of AI and how. There is a desire to be transparent, and a desire to have satisfied patients. If we disclose AI, what do we lose? That is what our study intended to measure.”.
Researchers sent surveys focusing on three clinical topics, including routine medication refill request (low seriousness), medication side effect question (moderate seriousness), and potential cancer on imaging (high seriousness).
Comparing authors, patients preferred AI-drafted messages by an average difference of 0.30 points on a 5-point scale for satisfaction. The AI communications tended to be longer, included more details, and likely seemed more empathetic than human-drafted messages.
First author Joanna S. Cavalier, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, said, “Our study shows us that patients have a slight preference for messages written by AI, even though they are slightly less satisfied when the disclosure informs them that AI was involved.”.
Click here for the source
