Knowledge, Attitudes and Perspectives of Anesthesiologists on Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Objectives: The use of AI in medicine is increasing every passing day. However, there is still debate in the literatureamong specialists about several aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). The objective of this study was to evaluate andanalyze knowledge, attitudes and perspectives of anesthesiologists on AI through an online survey.Methods: An online survey was conducted in order to reveal knowledge, attitudes and perspectives of anesthesiologists on AI in Turkey. The survey consisted of 29 questions about participants’ demographic data, professional data, andopinions on AI. After physicians other than anesthesiology and reanimation specialists were excluded, responses of theremaining 68 anesthesiologists were evaluated and analyzed.Results: The rate of anesthesiologists that have sufficient knowledge of AI was found as 36.8%. Of the respondents,58.8% considered that AI offers useful applications in the field of medicine. 64.7% of the participants think that AI willcreate drastic changes in all fields of medicine. Only 2.9% of the anesthesiologists consider that AI will completely replace physicians in the near future. 5.9% of the participants reported that they are worried about developments in AI.Conclusion: AI is not expected to completely replace physicians. We believe that further similar survey studies shouldbe conducted in order to take physicians’ opinions into account in the development of using AI in medicine.Keywords: Artificial intelligence (AI), anesthesia, anesthesiologist