Background: Artificial intelligence [AI] is a new field. It has been incorporated into healthcare and medicine with significant impact on health-related issues [e.g., diagnosis, prevention, and control]. For their future careers, medical students' perceptions of AI and how it will be applied practically and ethically are crucial.
Aim of the work: The purpose of our study was to assess undergraduate female medical students' perception toward AI in the medical field at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 414 medical students selected through electronic platforms to fulfill self-administered questionnaire including demographic data, data about familiarity with AI tools and their use in the medical field, and questions assessing perception towards AI regarding individual patient care, health systems, population health, and impact of AI on ethics and medical education.
Results: The median age of the students studied was 22 years, and 47.3% were in their fifth academic year. Familiarity with AI terms and use in medical field was recorded for 58.7% and 53.6% & 52.4% had a positive perception either toward AI application in medical practice or its impact on ethics & medical education respectively. Although, there was no significant difference in students´ perception as regards residence and academic year but significantly students who received training on AI in undergraduate education showed a positive perception toward AI. Furthermore, there was a very weak positive correlation between familiarity and perception toward AI in the medical field [p-value < 0.05].
Conclusion: About half of medical students were familiar with AI terms and had a positive attitude toward AI applications in medical practice and its impact on ethics and medical education. Nonetheless, there was a very weak positive correlation between familiarity and attitude toward AI in the medical field.