Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere – and it has already started transforming the health care industry. The ability of AI to process huge amounts of data and provide insights and recommendations very rapidly has improved efficiency.

However, the use of AI in medicine is not without its dangers. Some of those could lead to medical malpractice claims and put your medical license at risk.

Overreliance on AI without using critical judgment

One of the biggest concerns with the use of AI in medicine is the fact that humans tend to have too much confidence in electronic devices. That can cause some physicians to rely far too heavily on computer-generated recommendations at the expense of their own clinical experience and personal judgment.

There’s also a big question (if not recognized problem) with the fact that the data used by AI systems in health care has inherent biases and limitations. If an AI tool is using medical data that underrepresents women or minorities, for example, the recommendations it makes may be flawed. The biased information leads to biased results, and that can cause misdiagnoses and missed diagnoses – or even incorrect treatments that harm the patient.

Finally, there are issues with provider proficiency when it comes to their AI tools. Physicians and other medical providers who don’t fully understand AI’s capabilities and limitations can end up misusing the programs. This can lead to incorrect treatments for the patient.

Providers can also suffer from “alert fatigue,” and simply get overwhelmed and ignore AI-generated alerts after a while, especially if the vast majority of alerts are merely cautionary and not “important.”

Ultimately, AI is a tool, and it isn’t going to go away. Physicians and other medical professionals do need to be aware of the risks to their careers, however.