How Does the Healthcare Community Perceive Artificial Intelligence? —A Systematic Review

Abstract

Although artificial intelligence (AI) has flaws, healthcare workers and students have been implementing it in a post-COVID world. This article’s objective is to recognize the differing perceptions of AI impact on healthcare between different groups in healthcare. A systematic literature review was conducted on PubMed articles searched via keywords “artificial intelligence”, “healthcare”, and “job security” from 1/1/2020 to 1/31/2025 studying healthcare workers and students. After excluding those not meeting inclusion criteria, articles were qualitatively assessed for an overall positive, mixed, or negative view on AI in healthcare. 71.4% of articles held overall positive views on AI in healthcare and 17.5% held mixed views, while 11.1% were negative. Of the articles with positive views, 62.2% had concerns that included job security, privacy, or lack of empathy in AI programs. The greatest concern about AI in healthcare was job security (30.2%), followed by implementation or trust in AI (23.8%). There was a significant drop in the percentage of articles viewing AI positively from COVID era (2020-22, 81.0%) to post-COVID era (2023-25, 66.7%) [Chi^2 5.56, p = 0.0184]. Articles that focused on healthcare professionals were more positive about AI (75.5%) than expected compared to articles that focused on students (57.1%) [Chi^2 6.75, p = 0.00937]. Articles based in the Western world were significantly less positive on AI (68.0%) compared to those from the non-Western world (72.4%) [Chi^2 21.4, p < 0.01]. Therefore, the healthcare community is largely positive about AI, but with some concerns regarding job security and privacy.