AI and Machine Learning Terminology in Medicine, Psychology, and Social Sciences: Tutorial and Practical Recommendations.

Journal: Journal of medical Internet research
Published Date: Aug 18, 2025

Abstract

Recent applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in medicine, psychology, and social sciences have led to common terminological confusions. In this paper, we review emerging evidence from systematic reviews documenting widespread misuse of key terms, particularly "prediction" being applied to studies merely demonstrating association or retrospective analysis. We clarify when "prediction" should be used and recommend using "prospective prediction" for future prediction; explain validation procedures essential for model generalizability; discuss overfitting and generalization in machine learning and traditional regression methods; clarify relationships between features, independent variables, predictors, risk factors, and causal factors; and clarify the hierarchical relationship between AI, machine learning, deep learning, large language models, and generative AI. We provide evidence-based recommendations for terminology use that can facilitate clearer communication among researchers from different disciplines and between the research community and the public, ultimately advancing the rigorous application of AI in medicine, psychology, and social sciences.

Authors

  • Bo Cao
    Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
  • Russell Greiner
    Unity Health Toronto (Verma, Murray, Straus, Pou-Prom, Mamdani); Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital (Verma, Straus, Pou-Prom, Mamdani); Department of Medicine (Verma, Shojania, Straus, Mamdani) and Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation (Verma, Mamdani) and Department of Statistics (Murray), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; University of Alberta (Greiner); Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Greiner), Edmonton, Alta.; Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (Cohen), Montréal, Que.; Centre for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (Shojania), University of Toronto; Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Shojania); Vector Institute (Ghassemi, Mamdani) and Department of Computer Science (Ghassemi); Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy (Mamdani), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; Department of Radiology, Stanford University (Cohen), Stanford, Calif.
  • Andrew Greenshaw
    Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
  • Jie Sui
    School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK. Electronic address: jie.sui@abdn.ac.uk.

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