Routine use of artificial intelligence (AI) may lead to a loss of skills among clinicians who perform colonoscopies, thereby affecting patient outcomes, a large observational study suggested.

“The extent and consistency of the adenoma detection rate (ADR) drop after long-term AI use were not expected,” study authors Krzysztof Budzyń, MD, and Marcin Romańczyk, MD, of the Academy of Silesia, Katowice, Poland, told Medscape Medical News . “We thought there might be a small effect, but the 6% absolute decrease — observed in several centers and among most endoscopists — points to a genuine change in behavior. This was especially notable because all participants were very experienced, with more than 2000 colonoscopies each.”

Another unexpected result, they said, “was that the decrease was st

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