Opinion: STAT+: Sometimes, it would be unethical not to use AI in medicine

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Source: STAT News

Original: https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/20/ai-medical-ethics-doctors-unethical-not-use-...

Published: Fri, 20 Feb 2026 09:30:00 +0000

The article argues that ignoring proven AI tools in medicine can constitute negligence. Artificial intelligence can detect breast cancer on screening mammograms more accurately than individual expert radiologists in some studies. In a 2020 study in Nature using large datasets from the UK and US, Google Health matched or outperformed six radiologists and reduced false negatives by 9.4% and false positives by 5.7% compared to original clinical readings in the US test set. The debate about AI in medicine is stuck in a false dilemma between technical evangelists who want algorithms to replace clinical judgment and skeptics advocating the "human touch". The main point is not whether to use AI, but how to design systems where algorithms and clinicians do what they do best. An example is the analogy with pilots who do not fly without instrument support, although they can technically do it. Blindly trusting algorithms can be just as problematic as rejecting them.