Perceptions of Faculty and Students About Use of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education: A Qualitative Study

Artificial intelligence (AI) implies using a computer to model intelligent behavior with minimal human intervention. With the advances of AI use in healthcare comes the need to reform medical education to produce doctors competent in AI use. Therefore, this qualitative study was conducted to explore faculty and students' perspectives on AI, their use of AI applications, and their perspective on its value and impact on medical education at a Saudi faculty of medicine.

This qualitative study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University in Saudi Arabia. A direct interview was held with 11 faculty members, and six focus group discussions were conducted with students from the second to sixth year (34 students). Data were collected using semi-structured open-ended interview questions based on relevant literature.

Most respondents (91.11%) believed AI systems would positively impact medical education, especially in research, knowledge gain, assessment, and simulation. However, ethical concerns were raised about threats to academic integrity, plagiarism, privacy/confidentiality issues, and AI's lacking cultural sensitivity. Faculty and students felt a need for training on AI use (80%) and that the curriculum could adapt to integrate AI (64.44%), though resources were seen as currently needing to be improved.

AI's potential to enhance medical education is generally viewed positively in the study, but ethical concerns must be addressed. Integrating AI into medical education programs requires adequate resources, training, and curriculum adaptation. There is still a need for further research in this area to develop comprehensive strategies.