Tool or Tutor? Experimental evidence from AI deployment in cancer diagnosis
Journal:
arXiv
Published Date:
Feb 23, 2025
Abstract
Professionals increasingly use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their
capabilities and assist with task execution. While prior research has examined
these uses separately, their potential interaction remains underexplored. We
propose that AI-driven training ("tutor") and AI-assisted task completion
("tool") can have a joint effect on human capability and test this hypothesis
in the context of lung cancer diagnosis. In a field experiment with 336 medical
students, we manipulated AI deployment in training, in practice, and in both.
Our findings reveal that while AI-integrated training and AI assistance
independently improved diagnostic performance, their combination yielded the
highest accuracy. These results underscore AI's dual role in enhancing human
performance through both learning and real-time support, offering insights into
AI deployment in professional settings where human expertise remains essential.
