Here are four key takeaways from the study, in which scientists from Paris Descartes University surveyed more than 1,000 patients about the use of AI-powered and wearable digital health solutions:
1. Just 3 percent of participants said negative aspects such as cybersecurity risks and data privacy issues outweigh the potential benefits of tech-enabled care, while 20 percent said the benefits “greatly outweighed” the dangers.
2. However, approximately 20 percent said they would refuse all four of the high-tech care options presented: AI-powered skin cancer screening, remote monitoring of chronic conditions to predict exacerbations, “smart” clothes for physical therapy and AI chatbots to answer emergency calls.
3. A total of 35 percent of those surveyed said they would refuse at least one of the presented AI-enabled or wearable treatment options.
4. Overall, only 50 percent of patients said the development of AI and other digital tools in healthcare represented an “important opportunity”; 11 percent considered this innovation dangerous.
“Our results highlight that patients intuitively think that AI should help clinicians ‘predict’ outcomes, but that decisions, actions and recommendations should remain a human task. Technology would be like a ‘driver assistance’ for clinicians,” the study’s authors wrote. “Even among patients who were the most ready for the use of technology in their care, they would only see AI as a complement — and not as replacement — for human care for situations related to sensitive topics (cancer) or which involved lasting interventions (monitoring for chronic conditions).”
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