Finding a cure for cancer has long been the Holy Grail for medicine, with the explosion in AI-powered healthtech bringing that closer to reality than ever before. But fresh research has found that outsourcing cancer diagnosis to machines might be making things worse.

A new study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology journal suggests that doctors risk ‘deskilling’ themselves by relying too much on AI tools, becoming “less motivated, less focused, and less responsible” in making independent decisions.

After examining four endoscopy centres in Poland which performed more than 2,000 colonoscopies, both with and without the use of AI, researchers found a 6% drop in the ability of doctors to detect adenomas, precancerous growths, just three months after the introduction of AI tools.

Speaking to MedPage Today, the study’s co-author, Marcin Romańczyk, MD, claimed that the results could be compared to drivers becoming overly reliant on using satnav.

“We call it the Google Maps effect,” said Romańczyk. “Imagine that you want to travel anywhere, and you’re unable to use Google Maps. We try to get somewhere, and it’s impossible to use a regular map. It works very similarly.” 

The observations of the research team that AI could negatively impact the performance of health professionals is a counter to the more widely held belief that the tech heralds a new, more advanced age of medicine.

In just the past few years, numerous studies have trialled the use of AI for cancer detection, including many from Scottish universities, such as the University of Glasgow’s AI tool to treat rectal cancer, and an AI scanner created by scientists at the University of Aberdeen that can see the ‘undetectable’ spread of breast cancer. 

Meanwhile, this spring saw the UK Government begin rolling out new technology across NHS England trusts, aiming to help millions of cancer patients receive faster diagnosis.

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While experts say this latest study should not necessarily put a dent in the enthusiasm of doctors for their new favourite technology, it perhaps should serve as a cautionary example of the dangers of relying on AI alone.

“The paper is particularly interesting because it indicates that AI still spots more cancers overall,” said Allan Tucker, professor of artificial intelligence at Brunel University of London.

“The ethical question then is whether we trust AI over humans. Often, we expect there to be a human overseeing all AI decision-making, but if the human experts are putting less effort into their own decisions as a result of introducing AI systems, this could be problematic.

“One side of the argument would be ‘who cares if more cancer is identified’. The other side may counter ‘but if the AI is biased and making its own mistakes, then it could be making them at a massive scale if left unsupervised’.”