More than 60% of radiologists believe ethical, legal issues will hinder widespread AI adoption
Radiologists broadly see artificial intelligence as a tool to enhance their profession but many say potential ethical and legal pitfalls remain a bottleneck to change.
In fact, more than 90% of imaging providers believe AI will improve diagnostic radiology with 79% indicating it should be incorporated into residency programs, according to a large international survey published Tuesday in European Radiology. At the same time, more than 60% said ethical and legal issues will hinder implementation.
The findings are the second installment of a worldwide survey looking at attitudes toward AI in radiology. And the authors believe their most recent results hint at a possible roadmap to embracing this technology.
“Based on the results of the current study, integrating AI education in radiology curricula including technical aspects of data management, risk of bias, and ethical and legal issues seems to be the way forward to aid successful integration of AI into diagnostic radiology,” said Merel Huisman, MD, PhD, with the Department of Radiology at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands.
To reach their conclusion, Huisman and colleagues developed a 39-question online survey that was available to radiology society members around the globe between April and July 2019. More than 1,000 responses were gathered from 54 countries.
Below are additional findings from the questionnaire.
- Overall, 82% of radiologists expect AI to cause “significant” change to their profession within a decade. And 92% expect that shift will be positive.
- Most say such technology will take on the role of a second reader (78%) and help optimize workflows (77%).
- Slightly less than half of respondents expect AI to partially replace rads, with men and those with enhanced technical knowledge more likely to say so.
- In addition to ethical and legal hurdles, lack of knowledge (57%) and digital infrastructure limitations (35%) were cited as top hurdles to implementation.
- High-costs of developing AI software were mentioned by 35%, and the price tag of the software itself was further noted by nearly 40% of radiologists.
Focusing on the legal and ethical responses, the authors suggest further research is needed to understand the regulatory and potential complications that may stem from using algorithms. These topics, the authors noted, should also be introduced into medical education.
“An important step in successful implementation and continuous benefit of AI might therefore be the incorporation of AI education into radiology curricula,” Huisman and co-authors concluded. “In our opinion, this study shows that this is supported by a broad international community.”
Read more from the survey here.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.