Surgeons Awareness, Expectations, and Involvement with Artificial Intelligence: a Survey Pre and Post the GPT Era

TL;DR

This study investigates surgeons' awareness, expectations, and involvement with AI in surgery before and after the mainstream emergence of generative AI. It analyzes two global cross-sectional surveys (2021 and 2024), assessing demographics, AI literacy, course exposure, adoption willingness, and ethical considerations, with qualitative coding of open responses and publicly available data/code. Findings show increased AI education exposure and GenAI usage, high willingness to integrate AI into practice, but persistent gaps in foundational AI knowledge and infrastructural barriers; ethical concerns around accountability and transparency gain prominence in 2024, alongside a shift toward administrative and hospital workflow applications. The work highlights the need for structured AI education, robust infrastructure, and governance frameworks to enable safe, effective, and responsible adoption of AI in surgical care, informing educators, policymakers, and professional societies.

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming medicine, with generative AI models like ChatGPT reshaping perceptions of its potential. This study examines surgeons' awareness, expectations, and involvement with AI in surgery through comparative surveys conducted in 2021 and 2024. Two cross-sectional surveys were distributed globally in 2021 and 2024, the first before an IRCAD webinar and the second during the annual EAES meeting. The surveys assessed demographics, AI awareness, expectations, involvement, and ethics (2024 only). The surveys collected a total of 671 responses from 98 countries, 522 in 2021 and 149 in 2024. Awareness of AI courses rose from 14.5% in 2021 to 44.6% in 2024, while course attendance increased from 12.9% to 23%. Despite this, familiarity with foundational AI concepts remained limited. Expectations for AI's role shifted in 2024, with hospital management gaining relevance. Ethical concerns gained prominence, with 87.2% of 2024 participants emphasizing accountability and transparency. Infrastructure limitations remained the primary obstacle to implementation. Interdisciplinary collaboration and structured training were identified as critical for successful AI adoption. Optimism about AI's transformative potential remained high, with 79.9% of respondents believing AI would positively impact surgery and 96.6% willing to integrate AI into their clinical practice. Surgeons' perceptions of AI are evolving, driven by the rise of generative AI and advancements in surgical data science. While enthusiasm for integration is strong, knowledge gaps and infrastructural challenges persist. Addressing these through education, ethical frameworks, and infrastructure development is essential.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Global distribution of responders to the surgical AI surveys (2021 and 2024). Distribution of included responders per country over the 2021 and 2024 editions.
• Figure 2: Surgeons’ awareness, course attendance, and willingness to adopt AI in clinical practice (2021 vs 2024). Significant comparisons in the sections “AI Awareness” and “Involvement”. A) Changes in the awareness of surgeons in AI-oriented courses. B) Changes in the attendance of surgeons in AI-oriented courses. C) Responders’ willingness to use AI within their clinical practice. The statistical significance of the comparison between the response distributions was determined to be p = 0.030. However, no significant difference was observed when comparing individual responses.
• Figure 3: Comparative analysis of surgeons’ perspectives on AI’s impact, future applications, uses, and barriers in surgical practice (2021 vs 2024). Distribution of mean responses and corresponding p-values from the Mann-Whitney U test for questions evaluated on a Likert scale. For question A, a 4-point Likert scale was used, while questions B, C, and D employed a 6-point Likert scale.