Key result
Pragmatic randomized controlled trials are essential for rigorously evaluating artificial intelligence tools in healthcare to ensure they safely and effectively improve patient outcomes.
The author argues that pragmatic randomized controlled trials are necessary to provide rigorous evidence that AI tools improve patient health outcomes.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has exploded in the media for both its astonishing power and disturbing weaknesses.Of the potential applications of AI that are most likely to benefit society, most thought leaders point to medicine.Yet, to date, we have almost no rigorous evidence that AI improves patient health outcomes [1-3].Why is there a dearth of evidence?What needs to change?First, let's look at what has not been working.Most applications of AI in healthcare have had no outcome evaluation or had one with an inadequate study design that would not result in reproducible research [4].Many AI evaluations are based on observational studies that are so profoundly biased that they provide no compelling evidence that the AI tool is safe or improves patient outcomes [4].This is compounded by the problem that some junior AI researchers are new to clinical research and are unaware
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Byrne et al. (2024) conducted an editorial in Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare. Artificial Intelligence vs. Usual care was evaluated. Pragmatic randomized controlled trials are essential for rigorously evaluating artificial intelligence tools in healthcare to ensure they safely and effectively improve patient outcomes.
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