A new study warned that using artificial intelligence to detect cancer actually made doctors worse at their jobs. Researchers wrote in a paper published in the Lancet journal Wednesday that doctors’ ability to detect cancer dropped by 20 percent after implementing an AI tool to help them with diagnostics for three months. Four endoscopy centers in Poland were surveyed to compare detection success rates before and after AI usage. The study looked at 19 highly-skilled doctors in a randomized trial involving over 2,000 colonoscopies. After three months, the doctors’ ability to detect cancer on their own dropped significantly, which researchers speculated was due to overreliance on the tool. The study explained that doctors’ dependence on it was “leading to clinicians becoming less motivated, less focused, and less responsible when making cognitive decisions without AI assistance.” According to University of Oslo researcher Yuichi Mori, who was involved in the study, the debilitating effects from relying on AI will “probably be higher” as AI evolves. The unintended consequence may also be more pronounced in less-skilled individuals, according to consultant gastroenterologist Omer Ahmad. This is not the first time a study has revealed the detrimental consequences of using AI. A 2025 study from MIT revealed that using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to write papers led to a decline in cognitive activity.
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