The perception of artificial intelligence and infertility care among patients undergoing fertility treatment

To characterize the opinions of patients undergoing infertility treatment on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in their care.

Patients planning or undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) or frozen embryo transfers were invited to complete an anonymous electronic survey from April to June 2024. The survey collected demographics, technological affinity, general perception of AI, and its applications to fertility care. Patient-reported trust of AI compared to a physician for fertility care (e.g. gamete selection, gonadotropin doing, and stimulation length) were analyzed. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and subgroup analyses by age, occupation, and parity were performed. Chi-squared tests were used to compare categorical variables.

A total of 200 patients completed the survey and were primarily female (n = 193/200) and of reproductive age (mean 37 years). Patients were well educated with high technological affinity. Respondents were familiar with AI (93%) and generally supported its use in medicine (55%), but fewer trusted AI-informed reproductive care (46%). More patients disagreed (37%) that AI should be used to determine gonadotropin dose or stimulation length compared to embryo selection (26.5%; p = 0.01). In the setting of disagreement between physician and AI recommendation, patients preferred the physician-based recommendation in all treatment-related decisions. However, a larger proportion favored AI recommendations for gamete (22%) and embryo (14.5%) selection, compared to gonadotropin dosing (6.5%) or stimulation length (7.0%). Most would not be willing to pay more for AI-informed fertility care.

In this highly educated infertile population familiar with AI, patients still prefer physician-based recommendations compared with AI.