Moralizing algorithmic knowledge: Chinese patients' tactics for integrating AI-generated advice into clinical...

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), increasing numbers of Chinese patients incorporate AI tools into clinical consultations. However, directly introducing AI-generated recommendations into the clinical setting often challenges the authority of physicians and may provoke resistance. Therefore, this study explores how patients strategically integrate AI suggestions into medical consultations to preserve harmonious doctor-patient relationships while benefiting from AI.

We conducted in-depth interviews with 60 Chinese stakeholders, including both 35 patients and 25 clinicians, and employed an inductive thematic analysis to code and interpret the data.

The findings reveal that patients render AI-generated outputs clinically acceptable through four semantic strategies: provenance reframing, cue selection, modal attenuation, and sequential embedding. In the short term, these tactics sustain physician-patient harmony while enabling the integration of algorithmic knowledge into medical decision making. Over time, however, they give rise to a trust-transfer dynamic in which patients progressively benchmark clinicians against AI's explanatory precision and evidentiary transparency, thereby privileging algorithmic rationales over professional judgment.

We propose the adoption of clinician-led, AI-augmented models, the establishment of standardized communication protocols, targeted clinician training, and the implementation of robust validation procedures to ensure that AI effectively complements professional judgment, fosters patient trust, and preserves the integrity of clinical decision-making.