Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: A Multinational Multi-Center Survey on the Medical and Dental Students' Perception

Background: The emerging field of artificial intelligence (AI) will probably affect the practice for the next generation of doctors. However, the students' views on AI have not been largely investigated. Methods: An anonymous electronic survey on AI was designed for medical and dental students to explore: (1) sources of information about AI, (2) AI applications and concerns, (3) AI status as a topic in medicine, and (4) students' feelings and attitudes. The questionnaire was advertised on social media platforms in 2020. Security measures were employed to prevent fraudulent responses. Mann-Whitney U-test was employed for all comparisons. A sensitivity analysis was also performed by binarizing responses to express disagreement and agreement using the Chi-squared test. Results: Three thousand one hundred thirty-three respondents from 63 countries from all continents were included. Most respondents reported having at least a moderate understanding of the technologies underpinning AI and of their current application, with higher agreement associated with being male (p < 0.0001), tech-savvy (p < 0.0001), pre-clinical student (p < 0.006), and from a developed country (p < 0.04). Students perceive AI as a partner rather than a competitor (72.2%) with a higher agreement for medical students (p = 0.002). The belief that AI will revolutionize medicine and dentistry (83.9%) with greater agreement for students from a developed country (p = 0.0004) was noted. Most students agree that the AI developments will make medicine and dentistry more exciting (69.9%), that AI shall be part of the medical training (85.6%) and they are eager to incorporate AI in their future practice (99%). Conclusion: Currently, AI is a hot topic in medicine and dentistry. Students have a basic understanding of AI principles, a positive attitude toward AI and would like to have it incorporated into their training.