Doctor Who?: Norms, Care, and Autonomy in the Attitudes of Medical Students Towards AI Pre and Post ChatGPT

Abstract

This study adopts the combined TAM-TPB model to investigate attitudes and expectations of machines at a pre-career stage. We study how future doctors (medical students) expect to interact with future AI machinery, what AI usage norms will develop, and beliefs about human and machine autonomy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Wave one occurred six-months prior to the public release of ChatGPT; wave two occurred in the 6 months following. Three themes emerged: AI is tomorrow, wishing for the AI ouvrier, and human contrasts. Two differences were noted pre- versus post-ChatGPT: (1) participants began to view machinery instead of themselves as the controller of knowledge and (2) participants expressed increased self-confidence if collaborating with a machine. Results and implications for human-machine communication theory are discussed.

Keywords

• chatgpt
• health care
• human-machine communication
• generative artificial intelligence
• genai