Are AI tools making doctors worse at their jobs?

In the past few years, studies have described the many ways artificial intelligence tools have made doctors better at their jobs.

- By TEDDY ROSENBLUTH

It's aided them in spotting cancer, allowed them to make diagnoses faster and, in some cases, helped them more accurately predict who's at risk of complications.

But new research suggests that collaborating with AI may have a hidden cost. A study published in the Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that after just three months of using an AI tool designed to help spot precancerous growths during colonoscopies, doctors were significantly worse at finding the growths on their own.

This is the first evidence that relying on AI tools might erode a doctor's ability to perform fundamental skills without the technology, a phenomenon known as "de-skilling."